🪖⚔️ The Regime has declared war 🫡( -_•)╦̵̵̿╤─ on Venezuelans By Maria Corina Machado 🪖⚔️.

 

 🪖⚔️ The Regime has declared war  🫡( -_•)╦̵̵̿╤─ on Venezuelans By Maria Corina Machado  🪖⚔️.

 "El Régimen le ha declarado la guerra a los venezolanos Por Maria Corina Machado" - The Regime has declared war on Venezuelans By Maria Corina Machado 26/10/2023. ⚠️ Help us spread the word!*

 

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — María Corina Machado, a former lawmaker and longtime government foe, continued to dominate the primary election held to pick the opposition’s candidate to challenge Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro next year, holding her support above 90% in the latest partial returns announced Monday 23.

Machado, a strong proponent of free-market economic policies, already declared herself the winner in the early hours of the day after the independent National Primary Commission, which organized the primary, released the first results.

The organizers did not declare Machado the winner, but she was far ahead of the nine other candidates. The commission said Monday afternoon that about 65% of the ballots had been tallied, and Machado had 1,473,105 votes, or nearly 93% of the total. Her closest competitor had just under 70,819 votes, a little over 4%. The strong turnout by Venezuelans in and outside their homeland showed their strong desire for an alternative to Maduro’s decade-long, crisis-ridden presidency. Those voters defied repression, censorship and the weather to participate in the primary. Maduro, during his weekly TV show Monday, accused the opposition of inflating results. His comment came after state-owned television sought to present the contest as an “electoral farce” — an assessment far from reality.

Venezuelans gathered at voting centers — set up in schools, homes and businesses volunteered by their owners as well as parks and plazas — and waited in line for hours to be able to vote, even in areas once considered strongholds of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

They downloaded apps to circumvent internet censorship and helped each other find their voting center. They carried umbrellas, folding stools and coffee to ease the wait and flags to add a patriotic feel to the event.

Organizers did not forecast participation figures, but logistical issues, fuel shortages, government threats and repression led people involved or familiar with the effort to initially estimate turnout of around 1 million. That projection doubled as more and more people arrived at the polls in Venezuela and other countries, including Spain, Mexico and the U.S. “The projection for overall turnout, both internally and externally, looks like it’s going to be anywhere between 6% and 9% of the register, and that’s pretty big,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “That’s greater than many people expected.”

The country’s voting rolls include 22 million people, but the number is widely considered outdated.

Holding Venezuela’s first presidential primary since 2012 required the deeply fractured opposition to work together. That was a feat onto itself. But what voters and the opposition saw as a monumental exercise in democracy could still prove futile, if Maduro’s government wishes.

While the administration agreed in principle to let the opposition choose its candidate for the 2024 presidential election, it also has already barred Machado from running for office. Maduro’s government has in the past bent the law, retaliated against opponents and breached agreements as it sees fit.

Machado, speaking early Monday to supporters gathered outside her campaign headquarters in Caracas, sought to assure voters that she will be on the 2024 presidential ballot, while acknowledging that it will not be easy to accomplish it. “What awaits us is an arduous road, we know it. We are all very clear about the nature of the regime we face, and this primary full of obstacles and challenges proved it,” she said. “(But) the bigger the obstacle they put in front of us, the bigger we get because we are going to overcome all the obstacles.”

State television on Monday falsely accused the opposition’s primary of not having “witnesses.” It also tried to discredit the contest for a lack of electoral “observers,” but it failed to mention that some elections run by the National Electoral Council have also taken place without independent oversight. The primary’s organizers blamed internet censorship for taking so long in releasing results. Jesús María Casal, head of the National Primary Commission, said early Monday that once vote counting began, organizers detected the “server that functioned as a transmission channel was blocked, preventing us from completing this process as scheduled.”

The London-based internet monitoring firm NetBlocks tweeted metrics showing “a disruption to internet connectivity in #Venezuela with high impact to Caracas.” It added that a state-owned internet service provider claimed “an issue with its energy backup system.”

David Smilde, an expert on Venezuelan politics at Tulane University, said the primary was a “significant achievement” for several reasons, including forcing political leaders and parties within the opposition “to reach out and speak to the people.”

“And it has generated considerable enthusiasm and mobilization in a population that has been skeptical of the opposition leadership of late,” he said.

Machado maintained a somewhat low profile for years but dominated the primary campaign by connecting with the same voters she consistently urged to boycott previous elections.

The presidential election is expected to be scheduled for the second half of 2024. Maduro is looking to extend his presidency until 2030, which would surpass the time that Hugo Chávez, his mentor, governed and established his self-described socialist policies.

Maduro and an opposition faction backed by the U.S. government last week agreed to work together on basic conditions for the presidential contest. That prompted the government to release six political prisoners and the Biden administration to lift key economic sanctions.

When organizers declare Machado the primary’s winner, the focus will shift to Maduro to see if the government reverses its ban on her seeking public office. In June, the government issued an administrative decision prohibiting Machado from running, alleging fraud and tax violations and accusing her of seeking the economic sanctions the U.S. imposed on Venezuela.

The U.S., holding up the threat of renewed sanctions, has given Venezuela until the end of November to establish a process for reinstating all candidates expeditiously.

“I really feel optimistic, let’s put it that way, that some kind of change may happen, which is what is expected, since things have not been going well in the country for a long time,” said Wilner Escorza, a network technician in Caracas who voted for Machado. “So, let’s hope that they really make a change and that the politicians really unite and work for the good of Venezuela.”

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-opposition-machado-primary-election-371853e888bd7c191e2267f2b617e1f5.

🪖⚔️ The Regime has declared war  🫡( -_•)╦̵̵̿╤─ on Venezuelans By Maria Corina Machado  🪖⚔️, https://youtu.be/k8QqvdQlMBQ.

*⚠️ Help us spread the word! 1) María Corina Machado Parisca (56), Venezuelan opposition leader. Industrial engineer with a Specialization in Finance from IESA and graduate of the World Leaders in Public Policy Program at Yale University, in the United States, https://www.ventevenezuela.org/wp-inter/uploads/2023/10/1Vente- TDG-1-1.pdf. 2) Carlos Eduardo Blanco García (76), has served as executive secretary and president of the Presidential Commission for the Reform of the State of Venezuela, as well as a university professor and international consultant. Former minister, international consultant (EU, IDB, CAF, UNDP) and teacher, https://clad.org/acerca-de/secretarios-generales/carlos-eduardo-blanco-garcia/. 3) Raúl Eduardo Aular Montilla (46), Doctor and entrepreneur in the area of medical and hospital care with projects in several countries in the region. Management consultant at the firm McKinsey & Company, https://www.linkedin.com/in/raul-aular-9852413/. 4) Emiliana Vegas V. (61), Head of the IDB Education Division. She held various positions in the World Bank's Human Development Network and worked on lending operations and applied research in educational policy at the regional and global levels, https://www.linkedin.com/in/emivegasv/. 5) Juan Carlos Navarro (68), graduated in sociology from the Andrés Bello Catholic University in 1980, with a Master's degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University in 1989 and completed his doctoral courses at the Central University of Venezuela in 1987 doctor (abd) , international expert in higher education, entrepreneurship, technological innovation and digital talent. Advisor to international institutions with experience in developing investment projects and technical assistance in more than 40 countries, https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-carlos-navarro-08948a8/. 6) Henkel Alberto García Uzcategui (50), Instructor and financial analyst, is originally a Chemical Engineer from the Simón Bolívar University (USB) and has been an instructor in the area of finance at the Caracas Stock Exchange, but from a very young age he felt attracted by the numbers and the economy and decided to take the step to start as an economist., https://www.linkedin.com/in/henkelgarcia/. 7) Carmen Teresa Albanés Barnola (81), Regional Director of Unicef for Latin America (1982-1992), Minister of the Family (1992-1994), president of Fundación Proyecto Paria, https://fundacionproyectoparia.com/. 8) Gustavo Antonio García Osío (69), is currently an international consultant in macro-economics and fiscal policy and management. He was Fiscal Economist Principal Technical Leader of the Fiscal and Municipal Management Division (FMM) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where he was Fiscal Sector Coordinator. He was founder and first Director of the Economic and Financial Advisory Office of the Congress of the Republic of Venezuela (OAEF) between 1997 and 2000; He was Principal Advisor and Chief Economist to the Minister of Finance of Venezuela and Director of Monetary and Financial Policies of the Ministry of Planning (CORDIPLAN). He was an IMF Economist (1988-1993) and Professor in the areas of Macroeconomics and Public Finance at the Institute of Higher Administration Studies (IESA), Caracas, 1993 and 2008. He was a Visiting Professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Oxford (UK) for the Andrés Bello Chair (2005-2007) and Member of the Standing Committee of the Latin American Econometric Society during the period 1989-1990. He has master's and doctoral studies in economics from Boston University. Author of several books and specialized articles in the area of macroeconomics, public finances and fiscal policy in Latin America, https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavo-garcia-2b4aab66. 9) Sary Levy Carciente (62), President of the National Academy of Economic Sciences, professor of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). https://www.linkedin.com/in/sary-levy-carciente-phd-a32262/. 10) Rafael de la Cruz (70), Senior Economist at the World Bank and IDB, PhD in Economics. Summa cum Laude (1981). University of Paris, France, Master in Political Sociology. Summa cum Laude (1978). University of Paris, France. https://www.iesa.edu.pa/internationalfaculty/directory/rafael-de-la-cruz/. 11) José Toro Hardy (81), Director of PDVSA (1995-1998) and of the CVF (1969-1973). Professor and director of the IESA, https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Toro_Hardy. 12) Lino Juan Carrillo Urdaneta (65), New Business Manager of the Refining division of PDVSA, engineering director, vice president of technology and COO of a Start-up, https://www.linkedin.com/in/linocarrillo /. 13) Evanan Romero Gutiérrez (83), Former Executive Vice President Intevep, Vice Minister of Energy, Director of PDVSA and International Energy Consultant, https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanan-romero-97357a5/.  14) Miguel José Lara Guarenas (73), Electrical Engineer, specialty Power Systems; Former General Manager of OPSIS (1975-2004), linkedin.com/in/miguel-lara-guarenas-a193311b. 15) Pedro Alejandro Urruchurtu Noselli (33), He is the youngest and the one with the least overall professional experience due to his young age. Graduate in Political and Administrative Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela, mention in international relations and university professor. Coordinator of International Affairs of Vente Venezuela, https://www.linkedin.com/in/urruchurtu/.  

16) Alberto José Ray Sánchez (56), Specialist in strategic risk analysis, director of The Risk Awareness Council (TRAC) in the United States, security consultant for companies and governments, https://www.linkedin.com/in/alberto-ray-s-6920293/.  

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