Maduro’s strongest challenger, barred from running, picks a stand-in
Washington PostMar 29
Venezuela: Another Opposition Candidate Barred From Election
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The Facts
Venezuela's main opposition coalition, Plataforma Unitaria Democratica (PUD), announced Tuesday that its candidate to run against incumbent Pres. Nicolás Maduro, Corina Yoris, were blocked from registering for the July 28 election.
The 80-year-old former academic was named on Friday by the PUD to replace María Corina Machado, who has been banned from holding public office. Eventually, the alliance temporarily enlisted former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia as its candidate.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Maduro has been building a tyrannical government for over ten years now, but this move has gone further than any other. Even Brazil and Colombia voiced their opposition to banning Yoris, emphasizing that it violates the Barbados agreement signed by Maduro and the opposition last October. Maduro can no longer hide behind his typical claims of Western or American interference, as even his Latin American counterparts are calling his bluff.
Establishment-critical narrative
PUD is a US puppet that threatens Venezuela's sovereignty, so it's fully justified to block their candidates. While the US has condemned Maduro for his actions, Washington is the one who suspended Venezuelan oil licenses, blocked it from selling gold, and conducted coups — which has led to 40K starvation-related deaths and a national exodus of 7M Venezuelans. The US wants control of Latin American resources to fund its global wars.
