VENEZUELA-POLITICS/MACHADO REACTION Venezuela hardliner Machado vows to run despite ban from holding office

Record ID: 147016

  • Title: VENEZUELA-POLITICS/MACHADO REACTION Venezuela hardliner Machado vows to run despite ban from holding office
  • Date: 15th July 2015
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PAN FROM SIGN TO MACHADO CAMPAIGNING SAYING: 'I TELL HUGO CHAVEZ THAT TO EXPROPRIATE IS TO STEAL' MACHADO CAMPAIGNING AND SAYING: 'I WANT TO BE AND I WILL BE THE PRESIDENT OF ALL VENEZUELANS' VARIOUS OF MACHADO WALKING WITH CROWD OF SUPPORTERS DURING CAMPAIGN RALLY MACHADO HOLDING VENEZUELAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7VH3IGSXACJY24PO5QT0MSS29
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuelan hard-line opposition leader Maria Corina Machado vowed to run for Congress on Wednesday (July 15), despite the fact that she has been barred from holding public office for a year.
    Machado said the comptroller's office had disqualified her over not declaring a gift, which she says she never received, while she previously served in the National Assembly.
    "I say today, and I repeat, to the comptroller, (he is) illegitimate, and has no power to disqualify me. And I say to Mr. Maduro that I am qualified by the citizens, by the popular sovereignty and that I am going to run for the National Assembly," Machado said at a news conference in Caracas.
    It is not the first time Machado, a leader of last year's massive street protests, has clashed with the government.
    She was stripped of her seat in the National Assembly last year on charges she violated the constitution by accepting an invitation from Panama to speak against Maduro at a meeting of the Organisation of American States.
    Opposition leaders say the government uses attacks like these as excuses to sideline political opponents.
    Polls predict Venezuela's struggling socialist government will lose the December 6 parliamentary election amid a scarring recession, spiralling inflation and shortages of basic goods including medicines and corn flour.
    Anti-government activists say President Nicolas Maduro is seeking to avoid a bruising defeat by cowering the opposition and altering the playing field.
    Machado is loathed by many government supporters, who frequently point out she signed a decree that dissolved state institutions during a de facto government that ruled for less than two days in a botched 2002 coup against the late Hugo Chavez.
    Hardline members of Venezuela's opposition admire her for taking a tough stance against the government.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register