Machado defends “dismantling the structure of terror” in Venezuela before holding elections

The Venezuelan opposition member María Corina Machado has listed this Friday her priorities for the future of Venezuela after the capture of the president of the Latin American country, Nicolás Maduro, in a US attack at the beginning of the month, defending the dismantling of “the structure of terror” before the holding of elections.

“The process has several phases and now we are in a complex phase. The regime has to be dismantled. One of the priorities for the next few days is to dismantle the terror structure of the DGCIM (General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence) or the Military House, which have committed crimes against humanity,” he defended during a press conference at the conservative forum of the Heritage Foundation.

For Machado, “once this objective has been met,” Venezuela will be able to “move forward with re-institutionalization.” “Finally we will have free and fair elections. And I am referring to governors, mayors, the National Assembly. The will of the people has to be expressed freely,” he added.

“And we talk about political prisoners, their families and ending repression at its roots, because we cannot talk about transition while there continues to be repression,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner summarized during her speech from the US capital, Washington DC.

Likewise, he has considered that “this is an irreversible process”: “It may take one more day, it may take one less day, there may be some phase that we had not anticipated or that we do not like. That is true, it is a tremendously complex process to dismantle a structure that is 25 years old,” he acknowledged.

However, he has expressed that he has no doubt that the US president, Donald Trump, with whom he had a private meeting the day before at the White House, defends “democracy, justice, freedom and the mandate of the Venezuelan people.”

Regarding criticism that the United States has prioritized oil over the requests of the Venezuelan opposition, he has reiterated that Caracas has “given” resources to Russia, Iran and China, while allowing armed militias such as Hezbollah or Hamas to operate in Venezuelan territory. “Don’t come and tell me who is grabbing the oil right now,” he dismissed.

DELCY RODRÍGUEZ, “DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE” FOR THE REPRESSION

Machado has asserted that since Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, assumed the position of acting president of Venezuela, “what she is doing is following orders” and, therefore, “she is not comfortable” because she is acting in the face of the “real threat” from Washington after the January 3 attack as a “cost of staying in power.”

However, the opponent has indicated that both the US and international justice system “have enough information” about Rodríguez, whom she has accused of being “directly responsible” for the repression in Venezuela and of evading US sanctions “to continue making financial transactions with countries that are enemies of the United States.”

“I remind you that not only is she ideologically communist and very fanatical, but she has also been the vice president who has supervised and executed the entire process of repression. The torture centers are under her direction and have been under her direction,” he stated.

Likewise, he has confronted his role against that of Rodríguez, justice against the cartels, and the mandate of the Venezuelan people against “the criminal structure that is the regime.” “That is what is at stake right now. I am a member of a huge movement of millions of Venezuelans who are committed to freedom,” he clarified.

Finally, Machado, who has announced that in the coming days he will hold “several meetings” in Washington “and other cities,” has promised to return to Venezuela “as soon as possible” and that those Venezuelans in the diaspora “can do so” with her “too.”