The dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, officially Chavismo’s candidate for the presidential elections on July 28, described this Monday (25) the leaders of the broader opposition sector as “pieces in the game” of the United States to “take over ” from the South American country.
After formalizing his candidacy before the National Electoral Council (CNE), which is imposing obstacles for opposition candidate Corina Yoris to do the same, Maduro said that “the surnames” – as he now frequently refers to members of the main coalition of opposition, the United Democratic Platform (PUD) – and its “puppets on duty do not think for themselves”, but “are pieces in the game of the North American empire to dominate Venezuela”.
The leader of the Chavista regime said that for five years, starting in 2015, when the opposition obtained the majority of votes in the parliamentary elections at the time, this sector dedicated itself to “seeking violence, civil war, calling for sanctions against society and the economy, calling for the blockade and invasion of their own country”.
“Let us never forget, it is forbidden to forget, there were five years of destruction against the people, against sovereignty, against democracy. They are the lack of hope, the failed past, nothingness,” said Maduro.
The Venezuelan dictatorship announced this Sunday (24) the creation of a commission to draft a bill against “fascism and any neo-fascist expression in the exercise of politics and national life”, in view of “the acts of violence that the country has experienced in 2014, 2015, 2017”, when there were multiple protests for freedom and against Maduro, which were brutally repressed by Chavismo.
This Monday, the Venezuelan dictator became the tenth politician to make his candidacy official in the elections, where he will probably try to stay in power, just hours before the deadline established in the electoral schedule for the presentation of candidacies.
Meanwhile, the PUD reported impediments to accessing the system and registering its candidate, the historian Yoris, chosen as the new opposition representative, given the ineligibility until 2036 of María Corina Machado, who was the winner of the opposition primaries in October.
The anti-Chavista alliance asked the CNE – which did not comment on the reasons for this impediment – to extend the period for nominations by three days, in order to “remedy the violations of fact and law that occurred in the process.”
The electoral body also did not comment on the opposition platform’s request to extend the registration period.
Earlier, seven Latin American countries, including Argentina and Uruguay, signed a statement asking Venezuela to allow Yoris to register.
The governments that signed the statement emphasized that the current situation in Venezuela “raises serious questions about the integrity and transparency of the electoral process” that will be held in the country.