María Corina Machado won the primary this last week to run as the opposition candidate in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election. If she is allowed to run, she will be running against the country's current authoritarian ruler, Nicolas Maduro. Maduro has been in office since 2013 when he succeeded his predecessor Hugo Chavez. Even since Maduro took power, Venezuela has seen a consistent economic decline, a decrease in human rights, and more and more sanctions from the international community. While Maduro claims the 2024 election will be fair, he is actively taking steps to prevent Machado from having any chance of winning. Last year, Maduro’s government disqualified Machado from running, and since then has prevented the primary election from taking place. Even once it finally took place last week, the Maduro government still made a number of attempts to prevent most people from voting. First, they never shipped ballots and shut down the website, which shows people polling locations. Furthermore, they sent out protestors to protest in front of polling stations. Many experts believe that if Machado is able to run, she will be able to defeat Maduro. The election came among a recent softening in relations between Venezuela and the United States, with the US making a deal to soften sanctions in response to Venezuela accepting deportees. This deal, however, only seems to stand so long as Venezuela stops disqualifying candidates and promotes free and fair elections. If this doesn’t happen, the Biden administration has threatened to impose even harsher sanctions. Some analysts fear that Maduro is playing both the opposition and the US government and could get away with fewer sanctions and still remain in power.
María Corina Machado Leads in Venezuela Primary to Oppose President Maduro - The New York Times
By: Ben Pienkos
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