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After meeting with President Biden at the White House on Monday, Edmundo Gonzalez, the man who won Venezuela’s presidential election in July, traveled to Argentina and then Panama with ballots to prove that he, not Nicolás Maduro, is Venezuela’s democratically elected leader.
“We elected an overwhelming, good man and Edmund Gonzalez. We have proof of that victory and the whole world knows it,” María Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, told Fox News. – We won.
Maduro’s inauguration is scheduled for Friday. Venezuela’s opposition has called for mass street protests to peacefully demand that Maduro, whose mafia-style autocratic leadership has nearly bankrupted the oil-rich nation, not be inaugurated.
2 AMERICANS ARRESTED IN VENEZUELA BEFORE MADUR’S INAUGURATION FOR ALLEGATIONS OF ‘TERRORISM’
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks during a news conference at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Maduro said Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez should face at least 30 years in prison for promoting post-election violence and seeking to destabilize his government. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“What we need is for all American institutions to understand that Venezuela is the most important conflict in the Western Hemisphere for US national security,” Machado said via Zoom from her safe house in Venezuela.
“We can be the best ally the United States will have in the Americas, first of all, because we’re also desperate to solve migration problem in our region. We want these Venezuelans to return in their billions and voluntarily. And that will happen when they see that there is a future in their country.”
Machado had the following message for President-elect Donald Trump: “Venezuela has enormous energy potential that will never be tapped… We will transform Venezuela from crime center America into the energy center of America and to have a strong partnership with the United States.”
Gonzalez, who was elected president by Venezuela in July, also met with Congo’s future national security adviser, Michael Waltz of Florida, while in Washington. Maduro warned that Gonzalez would be arrested if he returned to Venezuela.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado shows voter lists during a protest against the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, a month after disputed presidential elections she says the opposition won in a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
“I want you to know how important this is to the security of the American people as well,” Machado explained. “Resolving this conflict in Venezuela, I believe that what happens in the next days in Venezuela depends not only on democracy, the future of our democracy, but the future of democracy in the region.”
Machado said the fall of the Assad regime in Syria is a warning to those in the military and judiciary who still support Maduro. The regime sent secret police units to surround the homes of her family members, sent a drone over her mother’s house and kidnapped President-elect Gonzalez’s brother-in-law on Tuesday.
“Maduro has lost everything except fear and repression. Maduro has lost all popular support, all legitimacy, and is even weakened or isolated internationally. What is left for him? Russia, Iran, Hezbollah,” asked Machado, a former member of the National Assembly of Venezuela. .
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has banned opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from running in the country’s presidential elections. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
The Maduro regime also arrested two Americans a day after Gonzalez met with President Biden at the White House, accusing them of being mercenaries sent by the US government.
The State Department issued the following statement: “We are concerned about reports of US citizens detained in Venezuela. We are working to gather more information. For privacy and other reasons, we have no further comment on these cases. Any claims of US involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro is categorically false, they continue to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela.”
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A State Department spokesman warned US citizens not to travel to Venezuela because “Maduro and his associates have demonstrated in the past that they can detain and imprison, without justification or due process, US citizens who enter Venezuela.”
