Venezuela opposition leader Machado says she is in ‘hiding, fearing for my life’

In Wall Street Journal, Machado wrote: ‘I could be captured as I write these words.’ President Maduro has said she ‘should be behind bars’

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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, left, and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez address supporters during a protest against the official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Published: 5:29am, 2 Aug 2024Updated: 7:29am, 2 Aug 2024

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is in hiding and fearing for her life, she wrote in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal.

“I could be captured as I write these words,” Machado wrote in the article, published Thursday. Her words come a day after President Nicolas Maduro said she and her stand-in candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, “should be behind bars”.

She again emphasised that Gonzalez was the rightful winner of Sunday’s presidential election, and called on the international community to help Venezuela.

“We Venezuelans have done our duty. We have voted out Mr Maduro,” she wrote. “Now it is up to the international community to decide whether to tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government.”

She said repression by the government must stop immediately, so that an urgent agreement can take place to facilitate the transition to democracy.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on Wednesday. Photo: Bloomberg

The international community has long applied sanctions on Venezuela to weaken and potentially unseat Maduro with no success. So far after Sunday’s election, the US and other Latin American nations have said Maduro needs to provide proof of his self-declared win by showing ballot tabulations.