She reemerged to electrify the presidential campaign in 2023.
Barred from running, Machado was also banned from flying and criss-crossed the country by road to campaign for Gonzalez Urrutia with rousing speeches enthusiastically received.
Machado had promised an end to 25 years of increasingly repressive socialist rule, marked in recent years by a severe economic crisis which has prompted seven million people — nearly a quarter of the population — to emigrate from the once prosperous petro-state.
“We’re going to liberate the country and bring our children home,” she has vowed.
It was Machado’s idea to deploy thousands of opposition volunteers to polling stations on election day to monitor the count and collate results.
Their tally showed Gonzalez Urrutia took at least two-thirds of votes cast.
The regime-loyal CNE electoral council announced victory for Maduro, but released no detailed count.
The United States, European Union and many other countries today recognize Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela’s president-elect.
He, in turn, insists Machado remains the leader of the opposition.
In October, the pair was awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize for having “fearlessly upheld” the values of justice, democracy and the rule of law.
© 2025 AFP
