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Venezuela, María Corina Machado: ‘Cartels are in power, not allies of the regime’

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A few hours before the elections, the opponent harshly attacks the regime: ‘It is not a government, it is a criminal structure that threatens the entire hemisphere’

Just hours before regional, parliamentary and legislative council elections in Venezuela, opposition leader María Corina Machado launched a harsh attack on Nicolás Maduro’s regime, describing the arrest of her close associate Juan Pablo Guanipa as “an act of state terrorism”.

Interviewed by the Argentinean portal Infobae, Machado spoke openly of a criminal system of power, claiming that Venezuela “is no longer governed by a legitimate executive, but by drug trafficking cartels”. According to him, the country has become the operational centre of a regional destabilisation strategy, which includes drug trafficking, alliances with Iran and Hezbollah, and the use of migration as a “geopolitical weapon”.

‘Maduro’s dictatorship,“ said Machado, ‘does not ally itself with the cartels: it is the cartels that rule,” arguing that it is a threat to the security of the entire hemisphere.

The opposition leader then reiterated the importance of the role of the United States and other international actors in confronting the authoritarian and criminal drift of the regime: “We need a strong, multilateral response against a structure that has now taken root far beyond Venezuela’s borders”.

Guanipa’s arrest is only the latest in a long series of intimidations and repressions towards opposition figures, while tension is growing in view of the vote, considered by many observers to lack democratic guarantees.

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