The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Madurowho is expected to seek a third term in this year’s presidential elections, assured thousands of followers in Caracas on Sunday that “the people in power” will win “by hook or by crook.”
“We are the people in power (…). “We are going to win by hook or by crook,” he said. Ripedressed in a red shirt, to thousands of people celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the failed coup d’état of February 4, 1992 against the former president Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), of whom Ripe is designated successor.
“Whenever they give it to us, however they give it to us (the elections), the people (are) organized to win,” he said. Ripewhile the president of Parliament, Jorge Rodriguezsummoned political and civil society actors on Monday to decide the date of the presidential elections.
Symbolically, Ripe invited Rodríguez to the stage and highlighted that “he responded strongly to the gringos” (Americans) about the ineligibility of the main contender, María Corina Machado, and regarding the date of the elections.
According to an October agreement signed in Barbados between the government and the opposition, elections were to be held in the second half of 2024 with the presence of international observers.
Furthermore, justice should allow potential potential candidates such as Machado appeal their ineligibility. However the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) confirmed last week his disqualificationparticularly for “treason” for having supported US sanctions.
Consequently, The United States announced that in April it would restore sanctions on oil and gas which had been suspended after the agreement Barbados.
“The meeting called for tomorrow (Monday) by the regime ignores the commitment it signed in favor of free and fair elections in the agreement of Barbados“, he reacted Machado on Sunday through X, and accused the government of wanting to “wash its face by compromising, through threats and blackmail, institutions and people.”
Machado, who handily won the opposition primaries in October 2023, cannot run for the moment.
The “4F” (February 4) is usually considered the anniversary of Chavismo. Hugo Chavez, a young officer with socialist ideas, tried in vain to overthrow President Carlos Andrés Pérez and before going to prison he said: “for now, the objectives we set have not been achieved.” Seven years later, he came to power at the polls.
Among the activists present on Sunday, Yurbi García, 28, demonstrated to support Chavismo in power. “We are just building the beginning of what it means to build our own history, our own sovereignty, to build a plan, a route for our children, for our grandchildren,” she stated.
