Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office opens investigation of María Corina Machado for “treason to the country”

The Venezuelan prosecutor’s office reports this Friday that it has opened an investigation into María Corina Machado, with the aim of accusing her of allegedly supporting a new package of sanctions that the United States will introduce through a bill Which is being discussed in the House. Of representatives. “The public statements made by the above mentioned vexatious Bill seriously involve and constitute the commission of the offenses of treason set out in Article 128 of the Penal Code; Conspiracy with foreign countries, established in Article 132 of the Penal Code, and collaboration to commit crimes, established in Article 37 of the Law against Organized Crime, prosecutor Tarek William Saab explained in a note he made public this afternoon.

Machado remains in hiding in some secret location, from where she continues her political fight to recognize that on July 28 it was the opposition, which she leads, that won the presidential election against Chavismo. The one who served as candidate, Edmundo González, is in exile in Spain, a path that Machado does not want to follow, as he believes his cause will lose strength if he leaves the country. The fact that the statement indicates that an investigation is being initiated is a pure formality. Sources in the prosecutor’s office assured, “He will be charged,” so his fate is excluded from any investigation.

This is the first time Machado has been charged since the elections were held. Unlike Edmundo González, who was besieged by the prosecutor’s office with threats of investigation and confiscation of his assets, Chavismo did not judicially persecute the most visible face of the opposition, which achieved an extraordinary mobilization of Venezuelans before the elections. Was. That changed this Friday, in another step towards the radicalization of Chavismo as a growing number of countries, allies and non-allies, doubt the victory claimed by Maduro. Neither the President nor his party have produced minutes certifying the election victory, which has only increased doubts.

The prosecutor’s office uses a tweet in which Machado replies to Republican US Congressman Mike Waltz. Waltz attached a screenshot of a New York Times story and wrote below: “@MariaCorinaYA remains a beacon of hope for Venezuelans who rejected Maduro and his socialist authoritarianism. “I am proud that the House of Representatives approved my bill, the Bolivar Law, to prevent the federal government from doing business with anyone who has commercial ties to the Maduro regime.”

Machado responded in English this way: “Thank you, Congressman @michaelgwaltz, for supporting the courage and will of the Venezuelan people. The Maduro regime will not silence the truth. We applaud your leadership and all the members of the House of Representatives who defended and approved the Bolivar Law. This is an important step towards holding the Maduro regime accountable. “We look forward to working together to continue the fight for freedom in Venezuela, a rapid transition to democracy, and a bright future for the region.”

Tarek William Saab has used this exchange on social networks to start this process against the opposition leader. Machado’s arrest would raise tensions to heretofore unknown levels and would represent a challenge to the United States, which already recognizes Edmundo González as elected president and believes that Machado, who has been fracturing for years and is a prominent Venezuelan political figure, having managed to unify the opposition after division.

The administration of Joe Biden, which negotiated the holding of the presidential election, is now the same one that has given the status of Edmundo González as head of state and that of the incoming one, Donald Trump, will be integrated as Secretary of State. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-born Republican who has been inflexible with the region’s leftist authoritarian governments. Rubio is expected to escalate the siege on Chavismo.

Maduro has already said on several occasions that he will assume the presidency on January 10, despite the fact that there is no evidence that he is the true winner of the election. The main nations of the world are clear that Chavismo supports a victory that is not the case, as demonstrated by the minutes collected by the opposition, which does not mean that they say that Edmundo González won, but rather that they demonstrate that Let’s say he did it. Big margin of victory. According to recent polls, 93% of Venezuelans believe that the ruling party has committed fraud.

The Bolivar Law was introduced by Waltz and Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Officially known as the Law for the Prohibition of Operations and Leases with Venezuela’s Illegal Authoritarian Regime, it prohibits any business or contracts by the United States government with people or companies that have ties to the Maduro government or “any Have commercial relations with the successor government. Maduro in Venezuela, who is not recognized as legitimate by the United States.”