María Corina Machado, the “emotional candidate” who has stunned Chavismo
María Corina Machado, disqualified from competing for the Venezuelan presidency, has in recent months become the ’emotional candidate’ and the architect of a movement that broke with the rigid schemes of Chavismo, which underestimated the opposition leader’s ingenuity to overcome any obstacle in the way of political change.
As the star champion of the largest opposition coalition for the presidential elections – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), this 56-year-old industrial engineer Edmundo González Urrutia has very carefully kept several aces up his sleeve, which he has been taking out, masterfully, as the situation required it.
His ability to recover from any setback and find an effective ‘Plan B’ in record time earned him the respect and admiration of those who had not previously noticed his skill and gift for strategy in the face of an adverse scenario.
Already in the opposition primaries in October, in which he won with more than 92% of the vote, Venezuelans began to look at Machado with different eyes, but it was the moment when he began touring the country in support of his candidacy for the PUD when his popularity and followers began to skyrocket limitlessly.
an obstacle course
Assuming the impossibility of competing in the presidential elections, Vente managed to get the members of the different structures that make up the founding PUD of Venezuela party to agree to elect a unitary candidate capable of competing with Nicolás Maduro. The one chosen was the academic Corina Yoris, but the National Electoral Council (CNE) blocked her registration for reasons still unknown today.
After denouncing the blockade of Yoris and staying away from breaking up, Machado continued his work looking for a valid candidate who could get the approval of all the members of the coalition. The one chosen was González Urrutia, who initially registered as provisional, a management that passed the CNE filter without problems.
Silently and without giving any clues to his opponents, the rival waited until the last moment to reveal who would be the final candidate, leaving the entity, which had already approved his application, without the ability to maneuver.
Obstacles on the road, a test passed
Machado has faced numerous obstacles in her campaign tour in support of González Urrutia – which she must do by road as she is prohibited from traveling by plane, even within the country – such as alleged improvised actions on the streets, endless controls by the authorities or blockades whose origins are unknown.
But no one could resist the opposition leader, who took alternative rural routes, often wild, crossed rivers in Cayuco on several occasions, advanced on highways on foot or by motorcycle, and repeatedly avoided all obstacles that stood in his way until he finished the campaign in the interior of the country, the final touches to which he put last Tuesday in Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia, bordering Colombia.
He also had to observe how officers of the National Integrated Customs and Tax Administration Service (Seneat) followed his steps to close or fine the owners of establishments such as hotels, restaurants or street vendors who served him during his visits to the country, arguing irregularities in registration or non-payment of taxes.
The same fate has befallen sound technicians who worked on their political activities, sailors or motorcyclists who carried it along parts of their routes.
Machado with nicknames like ‘Iron Lady’
Despite the difficulties, she continued on her path, where she found more and more people willing to provide her with the service she needed, even though she knew it could have consequences for them.
And this is how Machado has earned nicknames such as ‘the Queen’, ‘the President’, ‘the Iron Lady’, ‘the Goddess’ or even ‘Daenerys’, the illustrious character from the popular series “Game of Thrones”.
With presidential elections about to take place in Venezuela, the former deputy, whose life has been almost dedicated to politics, has not yet discovered the aces of poker that she surely keeps up her sleeve.
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