The Venezuelan government assured this Saturday that the political disqualification of the opposition leader Maria Corina Machadoratified Friday by the Supreme Court and which bars him from running in this year’s presidential election. “Judgment Thing” so “there’s nothing more to argue about.”

“This is a matter of judgment, there is absolutely nothing to argue about (…) “Those who do not comply with Venezuelan laws will not be able to be candidates.”This was stated by Chavista Governor Hector Rodriguez at a press conference on behalf of the government delegation to negotiations with the opposition Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

The Political-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice approved last Friday administrative measures for a period of 15 years against the two-time presidential candidate. Enrique Capriles and de Machado, who on October 22 won the primaries organized by the Democratic Unitary Platform (DUP) with 92.35% of votes.

Rodriguez said TSJ’s decision came after a request from the opposition. within the framework of the Barbados Agreements of October last year, when the PED and the government agreed on a set of electoral guarantees.

“What happened happened, it is a matter of common sense, now let’s look to the future, let’s move forward with strength. We call on all members of Venezuelan society let’s join forces to continue peacetime consolidation (…) Those who relied on violence failed and must accept its consequences,” the governor said.

In addition, he assured that after the completion of the review of the disqualifications, which led to the lifting of sanctions against five opponents and, on the other hand, the ratification of them for Machado and for the two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, the government “Ready” to create a commission to verify the agreements reached.

While Capriles – one of the highest-rated anti-Chavista politicians according to polls – was punished for alleged “administrative violations” discovered during his tenure as governor, Machado is barred from running in elections due to the fact that he “was participant in a corruption conspiracy organized by former head of parliament Juan Guaidó.

The proposals say that their requests “They don’t meet the requirements” in the Barbados Agreements.

The opposition calls for the disqualification to be lifted

The IPA delegation for dialogue this Saturday requested the creation of a monitoring and verification commission that assess the status of agreements signed in Barbados, because he believes that the government has partially violated what was signed when ratifying the sanctions against Machado.

The head of the anti-Chavista delegation, Gerardo Blade, explained at a press conference this Saturday that at this point a group should already be formed to assess “the truth and the true implementation of what was agreed”, as planned, but that both sides are “in default” for not naming the people who will compose it.

Blyde asked that Machado’s sentence be overturned: “This needs to be reversed and returned to the previous status (of political negotiations).”

The verdict, in his opinion, constitutes a “violation of due process and the right to defense” because this is the end of the “trial” of which the former lawmaker, elected in the primaries as the SDA candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for the second half of this year, was never notified.

Blyde said sanctions against Machado filled with irregularities and violates the agreement with the government last October, when the parties signed an agreement on electoral guarantees that, among other things, stipulates that each side will freely choose its candidate in the presidential election.

The Supreme Court clarified that the measure against Machado, which became known in June 2023, started counting in September 2021following an investigation that began in 2014 and whose findings were made public this Friday.

The former deputy has already been sanctions were introduced in 2015 for a period of one year, which expired in 2016, so according to official information, she remained authorized for five years until she received a new sanction in 2021, despite insisting on this decision of the Controller.

The PUD confirmed today that despite the disqualification, Machado will be his candidate in this year’s elections, the date of which has yet to be determined.

Former Ibero-America presidents support Machado

Almost thirty former Ibero-American presidentsMembers of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and America (IDEA) supported the opposition Maria Corina Machado in a letter.

In a letter published by the former President of Colombia Ivan Duque in X, The former heads of state assured that “Maria Corina Machado, in accordance with the rules of democracy, continues to remain legal representative of the opposition in Venezuela and its presidential candidate before the international community.”

IDEA appealed to the “guarantor countries” of the Barbados agreements “Act accordingly” to what Nicolas Maduro’s government has said by signing these documents, which “respected the ‘right of every political figure to choose his candidate’.”

He also called on the European Union (EU) to “ensure that its obligations under “to ensure Venezuela’s return to a democratic path.”

The letter was also signed by former Spanish government president Jose Maria Aznar and former Colombian leaders Andres Pastrana and Alvaro Uribe; from Chile, Eduardo Frey and Sebastian Piñera; from Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, Lenin Moreno, Lucio Gutierrez, Osvaldo Hurtado and Jamil Maouad, and from Bolivia, Jorge Quiroga and Carlos Mesa.

It was also signed by former Paraguayan presidents Mario Abdo, Federico Franco and Juan Carlos Vasmosi; from Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, Laura Chinchilla, Rafael Angel Calderon, Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Luis Guillermo Solis; from Panama, Nicholas Ardito, Ernesto Perez and Mireya Moscoso, and from Mexico Vicente Fox.

It was also signed by the former President of El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani, and the former President of Uruguay, Luis Alberto Lacalle.

(according to information from EFE)