madrid– Exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado Several thousand supporters attended a rally in Madrid on Saturday, where the Nobel laureate refused to meet with Spain’s progressive Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on a multi-country European tour.
sanchez, an outspoken critic Was hosting US President Donald Trump Summit of like-minded progressive leaders from around the world on Saturday, while Machado praised Trump’s ouster of Nicolás Maduro in January.
Earlier this year, he presented his Nobel Peace Prize to Trump.
“What happened in (Sanchez’s) meeting in Barcelona in the last few hours with many leaders and political figures from different countries shows why such a meeting was ill-advised,” Machado told reporters on Saturday.
Machado had insisted at an earlier event that she would return to Venezuela, but declined to say when or how, and acknowledged the challenges inherent in returning to her country.
Following her multistop European tour, during which she met with the leaders of France, Italy and the Netherlands, Venezuela’s interim President Delsey RodrÃguez has continued in her temporary role. exceed 90 day limit While initially imposed on him, the US government has lifted some of the sanctions against him.
Machado criticized RodrÃguez’s government, saying that it represented “anarchy, violence and terror”, and reiterated his belief in the necessity and advent of democratic elections in Venezuela. Machado said he has no regrets Putting up with Trump, whose administration has largely sidelined the crusader for democracy Nobel.
She said she was in permanent contact with Trump administration officials and trusted Washington’s step-by-step process in Venezuela since ousting Maduro.
“There is a leader in the world, a head of state, who has risked the lives of his country’s citizens for the freedom of Venezuela. And that is Donald Trump,” Machado said, referring to the US military operation in January.
The opposition leader attracted a large crowd to the Spanish capital’s Puerta del Sol, standing alongside Madrid’s conservative regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso, one of Sanchez’s biggest critics, who welcomed him earlier in the day.
some 600,000 Venezuelans live in SpainHome to the largest population outside the US. Many fled political persecution and violence, but also the country’s collapsing economy. Most people live in the capital, Madrid.
Twenty-seven-year-old Grehlsi Penuela, a Venezuelan migrant to Spain who took part in Saturday’s rally, said she still has hopes for Machado’s return to her country and her eventual return to Caracas.
Penuela, who had signs bearing the faces of her two cousins, said she would consider returning to Venezuela only under one condition.
“The present government will be completely removed,” he said.
