Two months after the controversial elections, Nicolás Maduro criticizes the departure of Edmundo González and suggests without evidence that María Corina Machado will leave Venezuela

( Spanish) – The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, criticized this Saturday the departure to Spain of the opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and suggested, without further explanation or evidence, that María Corina Machado could leave the country.

“And the coward Edmundo González Urrutia fled, left, gave up, capitulated, abandoned his own people,” said Maduro, ironically at a campaign event in which he celebrated the controversial presidential elections in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) ) declared him the winner. Two months have passed since the elections without the data having been presented by center and voting station to verify this supposed victory, amidst allegations of fraud and calls from a large part of the international community to make transparent what happened on that day.

González Urrutia has said that he left Venezuela due to a series of threats and pressure from the Government to sign a document in which he recognized the official results of July 28, later validated by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which also obeys Chavismo. The Government denies having coerced González.

At the official event to celebrate Maduro’s re-election this Saturday, the president also attacked the opposition, which called for marches around the world for this Saturday, and Machado, whom, without directly naming him, he also said that he was preparing to leave Venezuela. .

“Today I tell you, the supposed ‘queen bee’ was left without bees,” said the Venezuelan president in relation to the type of protest that the opposition carried out in Caracas and in several cities in the country and in which Machado did not personally attend. . A few days ago, the opposition leader said that she was “protected” in view of the wave of arrests that followed voting day.

“He is preparing his suitcases,” Maduro added. “And Sayona is preparing to leave,” added Maduro, alluding to the opponent, whom he has previously compared in public events to the character from Venezuelan folklore.

Until this Saturday, neither González Urrutia nor Machado had commented on the president’s statements and has already contacted their communications teams for comments.

This Saturday, Machado had explained in a recorded message that was played at opposition rallies that he had moved on to a stage of protest called “swarm,” which he described as “brutal repression.” We have to continue to take care of ourselves and stay organized intelligently.”

This Saturday, a team observed that this type of demonstration included groups of between 10 or 20 people who gathered to protest in public or private places, where the minutes that the opposition has published of the elections were read aloud and that would demonstrate a victory for González Urrutia. The Venezuelan authorities say that such records are false, although they have not been able to refute the data with their own numbers.

“Our citizen protest evolves so that it has the least risk for the people and the maximum impact on our objective, which is freedom,” Machado indicated in the message.

After July 28, more than 2,000 people, including numerous minors, were detained by the Maduro Government in massive protests against the electoral results that declared him the winner. At the time, the Government said – without evidence – that those detained were people who were part of an initiative to destabilize the country with the support of foreign powers.

Several international missions, such as that of the United Nations (UN), have determined that the repression ordered by the Venezuelan Executive could constitute “crimes against humanity”, allegations that the Government has rejected.

This week, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil defended the results proclaimed by the CNE on July 28 before the UN General Assembly. Several of the heads of State and Government who participated in this year’s session openly criticized the Venezuelan Government and said that it is really a dictatorship.

Osmary Hernández contributed to this report