Edmundo González appointed María Corina Machado as his vice president

The elected president Edmundo González officially appointed María Corina Machado as his vice president this Tuesday in a video conference broadcast from Madrid, where the opponent is forcibly exiled by the government of Nicolás Maduro.

The telematic conference of the opposition duo, between Machado’s clandestinity in Caracas and González’s asylum in Madrid, took place on the occasion of International Human Rights Day to denounce the increase in political prisoners in Venezuela, nearly 2,000 people after the July 28 elections and demand their early release.

The number of political prisoners, which was 270 before the presidential elections, increased to more than 2,000 people due to the protests derived from the electoral fraud committed by Maduro, who claimed victory without showing electoral evidence, while the opponent González did certify his victory. with 67% of the votes through 83% of the minutes scrutinized.

In his first Madrid press conference since his arrival last September, González read a statement after announcing that Machado She will be the vice president of her government team.

“My responsibility on a date like this is to denounce the serious situation that our country is experiencing, the serious human rights violations suffered by the victims and their families,” said the president-elect, who was received with applause at an event, under the name of “The challenge of the liberation of Venezuela”, in which he was accompanied by former political prisoners, mothers, children and brothers of victims of repression. With broken voices, some of them, like the mother of the 17-year-old Neomar Lander who died in the 2017 protests, recounted a small but shocking fragment of the suffering of Venezuelans during the last decade.

According to data offered by human rights organizations, Since 2014, 17,000 people have been imprisoned in Venezuela for political reasons. Currently, among the almost 2,000 prisoners, 42 are teenagers, and there are 245 women, the elderly and people with disabilities.

González referred to the inhuman treatment to which these prisoners are being subjected: “They have suffered the violation of due process and live in extremely serious conditions, suffering inhuman treatment, torture, physical and psychological violence.”

The Venezuelan diplomat who was his country’s ambassador to Argentina, He assured that the repression will end when he assumes the presidency of Venezuela. The release of political prisoners is his top priority, despite threats to imprison him and the future vice president as announced by the Chavista regime.

“You don’t go to war with fear. Somehow I’m going to travel to Venezuela to be sworn in on January 10,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that his return will not be easy because “We know that among those who control power there is no willingness to abide by the will of the citizens”. Despite this, he insisted that he will extend his hand to carry out “an orderly and concerted transition”; and stressed the need to continue exerting maximum diplomatic pressure. “We require maximum support from the world’s democracies. Venezuela requires justice and democracy.”

González does not show any hesitation in seeing himself “assuming the position” of president of Venezuela one month from the date of the investiture. “I see myself assuming the position for which I was voted by the majority of Venezuelans,”

Given the proximity of the date, María Corina warned that “tremendously challenging days are coming and dangerous, we know the risks we face and we have assumed them with the conviction that this fight has only one destiny: the freedom of Venezuela.

The opposition leader reiterated that political change in Venezuela is not “subject to dates” such as January 10, 2025. “Anyone who maintains a position of indifference or equidistance is placing themselves on the side of the oppressor.”

Machado also asked Argentine President Javier Mile for “firmness”i: “This is the time to act. It is today, not in January.”

The walls and streets of the country have dawned with graffiti alluding to the day of the presidential swearing-in “El 10 E es Ya”.