Who is María Corina Machado, the opposition candidate in Venezuela?

In recent weeks, the name of María Corina Machado has reverberated in the highest political spheres. She is the founder of the Vete Venezuela political party in 2012, of which she is coordinator and which supported her in the primary elections held on October 22.

However, his career goes far beyond his last public positions.

According to her public biography, Corina Machado was born on October 7, 1967 in the city of Caracas, Venezuela. She is an Industrial Engineer graduated from the Andrés Bello Catholic University and also has a master’s degree in Finance from IESA (Institute of Higher Administration Studies).

His parents are the influential steel businessman, Henrique Machado Zuloaga; and the psychologist, Corina Parisca Pérez. The Venezuelan politician is also the great-great-granddaughter of Eduardo Blanco, a writer and politician who collaborated closely with General José Antonio Páez; and she is a relative of Armando Zuloaga Blanco, who fought and lost his life in a revolt against the then dictator, Juan Vicente Gómez, in 1929.

In the field of social activism, Corina Machado consolidated the Atenea Foundation in 1992, for the care of street children through private donations. However, in 2004, she played a crucial role that would put her in the crosshairs of the then government of Hugo Chávez Frías, by calling for a national recall referendum, from which she obtained three million signatures.

Despite not achieving her goal and obtaining amnesty from the then president, she held at least one meeting with the former president of the United States, George W. Bush, in which, according to her, she expressed her interest in organizing more democratic processes in that nation. .

It was not until 2011 when Venezuelan politics decided to compete in the primary elections for the presidency, on February 12, 2012. Although she wanted to promote a policy contrary to what was being carried out with the Chavista government, she only obtained 3%. of votes from the electoral roll.

Two years later, he led demonstrations after the arrest of the dissident politician, Leopoldo López, arrested on charges of terrorism and instigation to commit a crime. From that date, Corina began a solid career as a deputy despite several disqualifications.

On June 23, 2023, Corina Machado announced that she would register her candidacy to participate in the 2024 federal elections. During her political career, she obtained the support of other partisan forces opposed to the Nicolás Maduro regime, among them, Alianza Bravo Pueblo, Convergence, Popular Will and others. Thus, on October 23, she was declared by the National Primary Commission as the sole opposition candidate.

However, in a historic setback, Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice ruled to suspend the opposition’s primary electoral process after it was announced that it could allegedly be violating the law.

This ruling, which politicians from other currents believe is a form of electoral violence by Maduro, occurs after the Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation for association to commit crimes, money laundering and usurpation of electoral functions against the organizers. of the primary elections.

The Venezuelan leader’s attacks come after at least 2.4 million people participated in the free elections to elect another popular representative.