The opponent thus denied the statement of the Government of Nicolás Maduro, who had said shortly before that the former deputy “fled the country to Spain”
EFE (14ymedio), Caracas, October 17, 2024 — María Corina Machado denied the statements of the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who said on Wednesday that the opposition leader had fled the country to Spain. “Venezuelans know that I’m here in Venezuela. The people know it and Nicolás Maduro also knows it. Maduro’s government is desperate to know where I am, and I’m not going to give them that pleasure,” the opponent said in an interview with the EVTV channel.
The Venezuelan government had said that Machado “fled the country to Spain,” where the standard-bearer of the opposition coalition, Edmundo González Urrutia, considered the winner of the last presidential elections on July 28 by the Spanish Congress of Deputies, is exiled.
In a televised event, Maduro – proclaimed re-elected by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council – said that “la sayona” – as he usually refers in a derogatory way to Machado – “also left” the country and “fled” to “a very good bar in Spain.”
“I’m here with the Venezuelans, here, obviously protecting myself and taking care of myself because I’m not going to give them the pleasure of knowing where I am,” Machado told EVTV without specifying if she was guarded in a diplomatic headquarters within the country.
Although Nicolás Maduro did not mention the name of the opponent in his statements, the Minister of Communication, Freddy Ñáñez, said on Telegram that, according to the president, “María Corina Machado fled the country to Spain.”
Specifically, Maduro said: “I have a secret for you, but I don’t know, do you know how to keep a secret? (…) Who likes gossip? (…) It turns out that the old man [in reference to González Urrutia] left a month ago, (…) and the “La Sayona” also left, fled, fled, (…) finally left, to a very good bar there in Spain, (…) she went there. Please don’t tell this to anyone.”
“I’m here with the Venezuelans, here, obviously protecting myself and taking care of myself because I’m not going to give them the pleasure of knowing where I am”
La Sayona is a woman who, according to Venezuelan legend, appears in the form of a ghost and punishes unfaithful men.
Last Monday, Maduro, without giving names or direct references, said that “she” had left the country, despite the fact that she has been banned from leaving the national territory since June 2014.
“Don’t tell anyone, she left the country, my sources tell me that she fled (…) they are cowards, they are good at sending messages of hatred and intolerance, but she left, she took her Gucci suitcases and left,” he said again, without pronouncing her name.
González Urrutia, leader of the main opposition coalition, the Democratic United Platform, arrived in Madrid on September 8, after requesting asylum due to the political and judicial “persecution” that he suffered in his country after the elections.
After the opponent’s departure, Machado, who claims to be in “hiding” for fear of her “life” and “freedom,” reiterated that she will continue to fight from Venezuela, while González Urrutia will do so “from outside.”
Also, on September 30, the former deputy, in her speech of thanks by videoconference after having won the Václav Havel Human Rights Award, reiterated that she will “continue to fight alongside the Venezuelan people.”
The executive vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, on Wednesday called Machado a “fraud” and a “dead mosquito,”* whom she accused of asking for sanctions and at the same time speaking in favor of wage increases for workers, who were, according to the official, “severely affected” by those foreign measures.
Machado expressed her “deep admiration and affection” for the educators, who, despite “hunger wages,” have “remained at the forefront of this struggle, with an infinite dedication
“Who has asked for the blockade against Venezuela? Leopoldo López, Julio Borges, Juan Guaidó, María Corina Machado, who then sounds like a dead mosquito* and causes tremendous damage to Venezuela and still today asks for more sanctions, (…) she then, every day, makes videos (saying): ’dear workers, I am with you, workers, and now we are going to fight for Venezuela and for your conditions,’” Rodríguez said.
She insisted that Machado, “whoring for the United States Government, calls for sanctions and a blockade against Venezuela.” The also Minister of Oil called the former deputy and other opponents “tremendous fakes.”
Rodríguez also said that the workers have been in the “vanguard” of the “active resistance against the criminal blockade imposed by Washington with the support of Western countries” and “the call made by the extremists and fascists in Venezuela,” referring to anti-Chavista leaders.
The vice president charged against Machado a few days after the opponent expressed her “deep admiration and affection” for the educators, who, despite “hunger wages,” have “remained at the forefront of this struggle, with an infinite dedication,” according to the former deputy.
*Translator’s note: Or “dead gnat.” In Venezuelan slang this means someone who is trying to act innocent when they’re not.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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