After an attack on a caravan in Venezuela, it is confirmed that María Corina Machado is free

The opposition party Vente Venezuela (VV) denounced in its X account that the leader María Corina Marchado “was violently intercepted upon leaving the rally in Chacao, a metropolitan area of Caracas, Venezuela“Although versions initially emerged that she had been detained, minutes later a video circulated in which María Corina Machado appears indicating that she is fine.

Juan Pappier, Deputy Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watchwrote: “We have confirmed with opposition sources that @MariaCorinaYA has been released. We demand that her safety be guaranteed.”

As reported by a source close to Machado to the agency AFP, The leader had been arrested this Thursday after leading a demonstration in CaracasVenezuelan capital.

(Read also: The images of the marches in Venezuela and the world against the regime of Nicolás Maduro).

A video was released of the opposition leader saying that “she is fine and free.” Later, her party wrote the following: “She was intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle she was riding on. Firearms were detonated in the event. She was forcibly taken away. During the period of her kidnapping she was forced to record several videos and then she was released.”

However, Diosdado Cabello, the Minister of the Interior of Venezuela, recently spoke on the local channel VTV and stated that the country’s opposition, with this complaint, “wanted to alarm all of Venezuela,” ensuring that the intention to capture her was “a invention” that sought to destabilize said Government.

Machado reappeared this Thursday at a protest in Caracas surrounded by hundreds of followers, after remaining underground since last August 28, when she went out to demonstrate to claim the victory of the anti-Chavista Edmundo González Urrutia in the presidential elections, whose victory was awarded by the National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by the ruling party. , to Nicolás Maduro.

More than four months after his last public appearance and one day after the presidential inauguration, which so much Maduro as Gonzalez Urrutia promise to assume, Machado appeared on the street, as he had promised his followers last Tuesday, to claim, once again, the opposition victory in the elections of July 28.

“If something happens to me, the instruction is very clear (…), no one is going to negotiate the freedom of Venezuela for my freedom,” Machado said this week in an interview with AFP.

Edmundo, through his

Reactions after attack on María Corina Machado

The first president to react was the president of Panama, José Raul Mulino, who wrote: “Panama demands and demands the full freedom of @MariaCorinaYA as well as respect for her personal integrity. The dictatorial regime is responsible for her life!”

The White House also rejected Machado’s arrest: “We have condemned and continue to publicly condemn Maduro and his representatives for attempting to intimidate Venezuela’s democratic opposition. Repression and intimidation cannot hide the fact that Edmundo González Urrutia is the true winner of the elections. elections on July 28. We demand that the right to Maria Corina Machado to express themselves freely and for Maduro and his representatives to stop harassing the opposition.”

Likewise, former president Juan Manuel Santos assured the following on social networks: “We are with @MariaCorinaYa. Her release and that of the Venezuelan people must be immediate.”

Iván Duque, also a former Colombian president, wrote: “The kidnapping of @MariaCorinaYA is yet another demonstration of the vileness of the cowardly dictator Maduro. The @CourPenaleInt must act immediately, and the international community must seriously consider humanitarian intervention to restore democratic order. “.

Likewise, the former president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, indicated the following: “In an act of cowardice, the regime of the tyrant Maduro has kidnapped María Corina Machado, for having had the courage to lead a citizen wave that demanded freedom and democracy in Venezuela. “We demand the guarantee of his integrity and his immediate release. On 10E, Edmundo González must assume the presidency as the legitimate president of Venezuelans.”

Colombian Foreign Ministry speaks out

He Government of Colombia expressed its deep concern and rejection of the increase and severity of reports of Human Rights violations that are taking place in Venezuela in the run-up to next January 10.
“The recent reports of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights point out serious and systematic violations of Human Rights in Venezuela,” the Foreign Ministry wrote.

The arrests of Carlos Correa, Enrique Márquez and the systematic harassment of opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado, “lead to Colombian government to reiterate the call to the Venezuelan authorities to fully respect their rights.”

And he added: “Colombia, in its capacity as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Councilalways attached to multilateralism and International Law, urges the Venezuelan authorities to at all times and circumstances provide full guarantees for the exercise of the right to political opposition and social mobilization, as fundamental elements of the set of civil and political rights in any democracy.”