Machado asks the EU to “raise its voice” against Maduro in the face of non-compliance with the Barbados agreements

He aspires to finally participate in the elections and defends the presence of international observers

BRUSSELS, April 11 () –

This Thursday, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado asked the European Union to raise its voice against the Government of Nicolás Maduro, given the violations of rights in Venezuela and the failure to comply with the Barbados agreements ahead of the presidential elections.

“We ask that you raise your voice so that the regime understands that the world will not tolerate persecution and actions that violate Human Rights and the Barbados agreements,” said the opposition leader in a recorded intervention before the delegation for relations with Mercosur of the European Parliament.

Before the MEPs, Machado has stressed that he has been “unconstitutionally” prevented from standing in the elections and has listed a series of obstacles to democratic participation in Venezuela in view of the voting on July 28, including obstacles to the registration of other opposition candidates such as Corina Yoris, designated as Machado's replacement.

He has also denounced the difficulties in registering in the census, both for the millions of Venezuelans living abroad and for young people who are voting for the first time in elections. For all these reasons, he has blamed these barriers to participation as a sign that the Venezuelan regime “knows that in competitive elections they would be defeated.”

Last October in Barbados, the government and opposition sealed an agreement that sets conditions for holding the presidential elections, which establishes that the parties “recognize and respect the right of each political actor to select their candidate for the presidential elections freely and in accordance with the internal mechanisms”.

ASPIRE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS

All in all, Machado wanted to send a message of optimism about his chances of finally participating in the elections, pointing out that he hopes to be able to use the candidate substitution period to be able to formalize his nomination.

“Edmundo González was allowed to appear on the card, but understanding that there is still a deadline for replacement, so that I can eventually, before that deadline expires, achieve my registration,” he explained to the members of the European Parliament.

Despite the arrests of members of her campaign and the persecution her party faces, with attacks on its headquarters, the opposition leader has insisted that her party has “enormous strength and historical responsibility” and has indicated the need to open a stage of “peaceful transition based on mutual agreements and guarantees.”

After the EU has sent an exploratory mission to Venezuela to study whether the conditions exist to send electoral observers to the presidential elections, Machado has been in favor of having international observers, both European and American, to “verify the reality of what happens” in the electoral process in Venezuela.