Democracy Dialogues: María Corina Machado on Venezuela's Way Forward

Speakers:

• María Corina Machado, Founder, Vente Venezuela; former member, Venezuelan National Assembly
• Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas 

“It's going to be more and more costly every day that goes on [for the Maduro regime] to stay in power. Not only because they stole an election and everybody knows that, but because they decided to unleash the worst repression wave we've seen in Venezuelan history,” says María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader, during a Democracy Dialogues interview with AS/COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth. 

Machado discusses the landscape in Venezuela since the July 28 elections where Nicolás Maduro claimed victory, despite evidence of a landslide opposition victory. “Right now, Maduro feels that he can actually kill people, disappear people, detain people, and nothing would happen. That the cost of doing that is zero, and that is not true,” Machado says. “He has to be held accountable for the crimes he has committed. And he has to understand that the world will not simply look the other way around, which is what happened before.” 

She calls on the international community to recognize Edmundo González as Venezuela’s president-elect. The situation in Venezuela has implications across the continent due to the migration crisis, she explained.

“For the first time, all the interests of different stakeholders are aligned in the same direction. And I'm not only talking about the international community… I'm talking about creditors, oil companies, financial sector, NGOs, human rights defenders. Every single actor that has interests in Venezuela should understand that their personal individual interests are now aligned with an orderly transition to democracy,” Machado says. “I would say even Maduro's interests, because every day that goes by, he is sinking deeper and deeper. And his negotiation status is deteriorating.” 

Machado says Venezuela’s path forward is a long one. Beyond changing the regime, she says her country will have to rebuild its institutions and the citizens' trust towards them. “We're facing an incredible moment in history. I think it is the most important conflict taking place in the Western hemisphere,” Machado says. “We will prevail. Venezuela will be free, and we will bring our kids back home.”

Democracy Dialogues is a series of conversations on the state of democracy in the Americas. Hosted by Eric Farnsworth, these one-on-one interviews with leading democracy practitioners explore the most difficult issues of regional democratic governance with an eye toward pragmatic, deeply-considered solutions.  Previous guests have included Guatemala's president-elect Bernardo Arevalo, Colombia's then-President Ivan Duque, NBA Basketball Star Enes Kanter Freedom, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, Cuba Decide founder Rosa Maria Paya, founder and editor of Nicaragua's Confidential Carlos Fernando Chamorro, and numerous others. 

Follow the conversation: #DemocracyDialogues | @ASCOA

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