Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado draws a huge Madrid crowd and rebuffs meeting with Spain’s PM
MADRID (AP) — Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado It drew thousands of supporters to a rally in Madrid on Saturday; here the Nobel laureate refused to meet Spain’s progressive Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on a multi-country European tour.
Sánchez, an outspoken critic It was hosting US President Donald Trump summit of like-minded progressive leaders Machado, who came from all over the world on Saturday, Trump’s dismissal of Nicolás Maduro In January.
Earlier this year, he presented Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize.
“What happened in the meeting (Sánchez) with many leaders and political figures from different countries in Barcelona in the last few hours shows why such a meeting is not recommended,” Machado told reporters on Saturday.
Machado had insisted at a previous event that he would return to Venezuela, but he refused to say when or how and acknowledged the difficulties that returning to his country would present.
His multi-stop European tour, during which he met with the leaders of France, Italy and the Netherlands, took place while Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez was still in office. exceeding the initial 90-day limitWhile the US government lifted some sanctions against him.
Machado criticized the Rodríguez government, saying it represented “chaos, violence and terror” and reiterated his belief in the necessity of democratic elections in Venezuela. Machado added that he has no regrets introduces Trump, whose administration has largely set aside the fight for democracy, With his Nobel.
He said he has been in constant contact with Trump administration officials and has confidence in Washington’s phased process in Venezuela since Maduro’s ouster.
Referring to the US military operation in January, Machado said, “There is a leader, a head of state in the world who risks the lives of his own country’s citizens for the freedom of Venezuela. That is Donald Trump.”
The opposition leader attracted a large crowd in the Spanish capital’s Puerta del Sol, standing next to Madrid’s conservative regional leader Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who had welcomed him earlier in the day.
Approximately 600,000 Venezuelans live in SpainIt is home to the largest population outside the American continent. Many fled political persecution and violence, as well as the country’s collapsing economy. The majority live in the capital Madrid.
Ahead of Venezuela’s 2024 presidential elections, Machado traveled throughout the country, gathering millions of voters who wanted to end 25 years of single-party rule. When he was banned from the race, Edmundo Gonzalez, a previously unknown former diplomat, replaced him on the ballot. But election officials loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner despite overwhelming credible evidence to the contrary.
Machado, revered by millions in Venezuela, went into hiding but vowed to continue the fight until democracy was restored. He resurfaced last December in Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize; It was the first time he had left Venezuela in more than a decade.
On Saturday, Grehlsy Peñuela, a 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, said she still pins her hopes for her country on Machado and will eventually return to Caracas.
Peñuela, holding signs with the faces of his two cousins saying he would remain detained in Caracas as a political prisoner, could only consider returning to Venezuela on one condition.
“Complete resignation of the current government,” he said.
