Maria Corina Machado, given the favorite by the polls to represent the opposition in the presidential election of 2024 in Venezuela, denounced the violence of supporters of President Nicolas Maduro who, according to her, tried to prevent a campaign act in Caracas.
According to images broadcast by local media, the supporters of the former deputy, placed at the head of the opinion polls for the opposition primary, arrived early to prepare this act of campaign in Petare, an important district of the capital, but clashed there with people brandishing sticks, some wearing red T-shirts, the traditional color of Chavismo.
When Mme Machado, a radical opposition figure, arrived, the tension escalated and her supporters had to protect her from being attacked.
From another location in Petare, Maria Corina Machado said the government had “been busy spreading terror and violence”.
“We have all seen what is happening right now, in this neighborhood of Petare, where hundreds and hundreds of Venezuelans who came to meet us today have been threatened, intimidated and abused by the regime,” said the candidate, according to a video posted on Twitter by Vente Venezuela, the party that supports her.
She assured that among the aggressors were “armed people” and that the government wanted her to “renounce” her intention to be elected to the presidency.
Mme Machado had experienced another incident on Friday, when a group of people tried to prevent her vehicle from entering the town of Vargas, near Caracas, where she was also campaigning. The police then intervened and cleared the way for him, according to a video tweeted by Vente Venezuela.
Among the candidates for the October 22 primaries are Henrique Capriles, who has already run for two presidential elections, and Freddy Superlano, who received his party’s nomination in place of Juan Guaido, a former opposition leader exiled in the States. -United.
At the beginning of July, Mme Machado was banned from public office for 15 years due to “administrative irregularities” committed during her tenure as a Member of Parliament (2011-2014). MM. Capriles and Superlano had also previously been declared ineligible.