‘The democratic forces are more united than ever,’ Machado said.
Maria Corina Machado is calling for sweeping protests across the globe Saturday against President Maduro’s regime, as her party prepares for its first 100 days in office should the dictator leave power.
She says that Venezuela could also see huge swaths of its citizens leave for friendlier shores, or have millions of its citizens return from abroad, depending on which regime wins out.
In a webinar with the Atlas Network, Latin America’s Iron Lady reinforced her call for the international community to protest against Mr. Maduro, which was first announced on Monday.
“This coming Saturday, August 17, Venezuelans will unite everywhere in the world to raise their voices for the truth,” she said.
She told Venezuelan voters to bring their voting record to, “Let the world see, with documents in hand, that we will not allow ourselves to be robbed.
“We want to bring our kids back home,” she said, telling viewers that she and her co-workers “are preparing for people to come back” to the country.
However, if Maduro is allowed to remain in power, Ms. Machado says the country will see the largest exodus of its people yet. Three to 5 million Venezuelans are expected to leave the country and bolt towards other countries, and especially the southern border.
Venezuela is already “the biggest migration crisis,” she said. “If we manage to transition power, we believe many Venezuelans will come back. You will see many of our diaspora that have had experiences around the world coming and building new opportunities for them and for us in Venezuela.”
Yet, Ms. Machado and Edmundo González are optimistic that Maduro and his “regime of terror” will eventually come to an end as she and her party“are working on the things we will do in our first 100 days in office.”
Atlas Network Vice President of International Affairs, Tom Palmer, who helped chair the webinar, tells the Sun that Ms. Machado and Mr. Gonzalez’s party has “what it takes to restore liberal democracy in their country and to show others how it can be done in theirs. “
Ms. Machado says that the reconstruction process will be “complex,” since Mr. Gonzalez’s administration will have to readminister the rule of law and reconstruct the country’s liberal democracy.
“We are committed to moving ahead, we’ve never been more united, the democratic forces are united more than ever,” she said. “We are not naive, we know precisely the nature of this regime. But we trust the will of the people. I feel very proud to be Venezuelan.”
These remarks happen as Mr. Maduro banned X in Venezuela and has continued to arrest political dissidents. Ms. Machado reported over 13,000 people arrested, many of whom are minors.
A senior fellow for Latin America at Atlas Network, Roberto Salinas, tells the Sun that Mr. Maduro is “desperate and trying to buy time,” and “silencing opposition, by any means necessary, is essential to this totalitarian turn.”
Mr. Maduro had promised to publish his election tally, but has not done so yet. Ms. Machado and Mr. Gonzalez published the election tallies online to prove the latter as the true victor of the July 28 elections.
https://www.nysun.com/article/machado-urges-venezuelans-worldwide-to-protest-against-maduro-in-atlas-network-webinar
