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During a party meeting in Caracas, Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro decided to run and became the official candidate of the ruling United Socialist Party for the state's highest office in the July 28 presidential election. The decision was supported by more than four million party members, according to independent website Venezuelanalysis.
The White House and the united opposition raised by it are against.
Who are they, Americans, to declare that the lifting of oil sanctions «will expire in April if Machado (about her — below, Auth.) is not allowed to run»? But the audacity and bloodthirstiness of the Americans seems to be limitless.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has released the calendar for this year’s presidential elections. During a press conference on March 5, the day President Hugo Chavez (his followers are called Chavistas) died, CNE President Elvis Amoroso announced that the organization’s board had unanimously decided to schedule the upcoming vote for July 28 (Chavez’s birthday). Political parties will be able to register presidential candidates between March 21 and March 25, with the election campaign scheduled to take place between July 4 and July 25.
The July 28 date was chosen from more than 20 proposed dates based on the opinions of ruling party allies, business associations, university circles, religious groups and other organizations. The opposition United States-backed Unitary Platform did not participate in any of the meetings that led to the election proposals.
Hours after the election date was announced, the Joe Biden administration updated a 2015 Executive Order that declared Venezuela an «unusual and extraordinary threat» to U.S. national security and foreign policy.
The Donkey (the historical emblem of the Democrats) decided to scare the Blackbird (black-headed birds with orange bodies, the national bird of Venezuela).
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil issued a communiqué rejecting the «prolonged campaign of aggression against the Venezuelan people» and calling it «collective punishment».
«There is a busy election season ahead that raises doubts about the participation of the leading opposition candidate as well as international observers», the Associated Press news agency noted on the occasion with a phrase that could be more attributed to the United States itself.
Why then are the Americans hiding Maria Corina Machado in some Andean region of the country? What are they waiting for? The deadline for candidate registration is March 25. It is clear that she will not come to register. And if she comes, she’ll be rejected again. And both options are only for the benefit of Washington in its desire to strangle the Bolivarian Republic.
In late January, the Supreme Court of Venezuela approved the decision to defeat the political rights of right-wing opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, which will not allow her to participate in the presidential elections in 2024. Recall that the political-administrative chamber of the Supreme Court approved the disqualification of Machado from holding public office for 15 years, in accordance with the Comptroller General’s decision of September 16, 2021, «for participating in an anti-government conspiracy and corruption scheme organized by [self-proclaimed President] Juan Guaidó».
Moreover, President Maduro’s administration did not prohibit or prevent her from holding a private primary last October, in violation once again of the law of her country, according to which all primaries are held with the organizational support of the electoral authorities. Incidentally, as is customary in the United States.
«The people gave the mandate, and they gave it to me», Machado said to supporters from her distant neighborhood. — «Listen to me carefully, those who talk about a replacement….. yes, there is a replacement. Do you know who? I am the one who will replace Nicolas Maduro! Without me, there will be no election!»
In this regard, we recall in this connection the resolution of Emperor Alexander III on the arrest of Maria Tsebrikova, an elderly lady known in opposition revolutionary circles: «Let the old fool go!»
And this is clear to the entire Venezuelan opposition except, of course, Machado herself. Two-time opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles this week called on fellow opponents of Maduro to show a «sense of realism» and rally around an alternative. Capriles, who is far more popular than Machado, did not participate in the primaries she organized and asked voters to «put Venezuelans and the country first».
The date announced by CNE President Elvis Amoroso met the opposition’s demands for elections to be held in the second half of the year. «This election schedule includes all the constitutional, legal and technical requirements for the 2024 presidential election», Amoroso said during a press conference.
The former comptroller explained that the election calendar is based on the national election agreement submitted by the CNE. The document bears the signatures of 152 representatives of a wide range of political, economic and social sectors of Venezuelan society, all of whom participated in a comprehensive national dialog that lasted several weeks.
For his part, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said that the agreement gathered some 500 proposals on issues related to broad aspects of the upcoming electoral process. They include electoral guarantees for all political parties, equal opportunities for campaigning on national television and social media, updating the electoral registry and inviting international observers, subject to compliance with Venezuela’s laws and Constitution.
The proposals were presented during nine rounds of negotiations held since early February between various political organizations, including more than 40 opposition parties, as well as economic, social, student, cultural, religious and women’s organizations.
In addition, March 20 is the day for the selection of members of the lower electoral bodies, in which opposition members are also participating.
Following the announcement of the CNE calendar, Machado said she would continue to run for office. Despite the outspoken U.S. support for Maria Machado, leader of the political movement Vente Venezuela, the Unitary Platform, formed by four opposition parties not including Machado, continues to negotiate with the Maduro government. And several such meetings have reportedly taken place on Venezuelan soil since last October. The anti-government alliance has pledged to stay on the electoral track, but has not disclosed whether it would support another candidate.
For its part, Washington has unconditionally patronized and instructed Machado. Apparently, old man Biden has no better candidate for Venezuela’s presidency than «old fool» Machado.
After her ban was upheld, the White House increased its economic measures against Caracas, and the U.S. Treasury Department revoked the license allowing transactions with Venezuela’s mining sector (gold).
The White House also promised to re-impose sanctions on the oil and gas industry once the existing license expires in April. Caracas has rejected these threats, focusing instead on national dialogue as part of the electoral process and strengthening alliances with other partners to support the oil industry.
Obviously, all this dirty and unworthy of a «great» power is aimed at getting Maduro out of the way, ending Chavismo and absorbing Venezuela’s oil, gold and other riches. But, as the saying goes, human’s greediness will destroy it.
The Donkey failed to intimidate the Blackbird. During his visit to Tehran, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signed a 20-year agreement with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on comprehensive strategic cooperation. The agreement regulates the issues of building and developing cooperation between the two countries in the political, oil, petrochemical, tourism and cultural spheres.
During a working visit to Venezuela in February this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that relations between Russia and Venezuela have reached the level of strategic partnership. «Venezuela is one of Russia’s most reliable and close friends in the Latin American region, and in the world as a whole», the Russian minister emphasized.
«We paid great attention to expanding trade and economic cooperation. There are many opportunities here, including expanding cooperation in oil production, development of gas fields, in agriculture, medicine and pharmaceuticals, in space exploration, in information and communication technologies and innovations. The direction of peaceful use of atomic energy is also promising», Sergey Lavrov said.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced that it has invited a group of experts from the United Nations, the European Union, the BRICS group, the Carter Center, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Authorities (UNIORE) to participate as observers in the July 28 presidential election. Polls show that the overwhelming majority of Venezuelans are willing and ready to go to the polls, but to elect their own leader for six years, not a foreign fake one. In any case, the question: who elects the president of Venezuela: Venezuelans or the White House? — remains relevant until July 28, 2024.