Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, despite her significant popularity and a decisive two million-vote victory in the opposition’s primary, faces a major obstacle: a ban preventing her from holding public office. The country’s top court upheld this ban in January, blocking Machado from directly challenging President Nicolás Maduro in the upcoming July 28 presidential election.
Undeterred, Machado has shifted her focus to campaigning for her replacement, former ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez. On her tour across Venezuela, Machado attracts large crowds, sometimes numbering in the thousands, who gather around her pick-up truck, which doubles as a rally stage. She uses these gatherings to voice her criticism of Maduro’s government and rally support for Gonzalez, 74.
For many Venezuelans grappling with economic hardship, crumbling public services, and a mass migration crisis, Machado’s emotional appeals resonate deeply. Despite not detailing specific policies, her rhetoric of unity and redemption offers a hopeful vision of change.
Darwin Mendoza, a 27-year-old delivery driver from Aragua state, describes the rallies as filled with “joy” and “excitement,” reflecting the crowd’s desire for transformation.
Machado, known for her upper-class background and her father’s legacy in steel manufacturing, faces criticism from socialist officials who label her a “fascist oligarch.” In response, she condemns Maduro’s administration as a “criminal mafia” and supports policy reforms such as privatizing state-owned PDVSA and establishing welfare programs for the impoverished.
Her campaign has been marred by legal challenges and arrests within her team. Recent weeks saw her head of security arrested and later released, while six of her associates sought refuge in Argentina’s embassy following arrest warrants issued by prosecutors in March.
Despite personal attacks and accusations of egotism, Machado remains focused on her mission, presenting the election as a “spiritual struggle of good versus evil” and emphasizing her support for Gonzalez as a “decent and honest man.”
