Maria Corina Machado draws thousands of Venezuelans in Madrid, declares: Today we begin the journey home
Machado appeared on the balcony of the Royal Post Office building alongside Ayuso, who introduced her as Venezuela’s future president
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado on Saturday drew thousands of Venezuelans to Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, where she received the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid from regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso and proclaimed the start of a new phase in the push for free elections in Venezuela.
Venezuela will be free, Machado said from a stage adorned with the tricolor flag before a crowd chanting freedom and elections. Today, from this Puerta del Sol, the journey home begins, she added, addressing a diaspora that exceeds eight million people according to international estimates. We now face a decisive phase. It falls to all of us to ensure we move toward clean and free elections.
Machado appeared on the balcony of the Royal Post Office building alongside Ayuso, who introduced her as Venezuela’s future president. I am convinced you will go down in history as the first female president of Venezuela, the regional president said, calling Madrid the capital of the free world and describing the day as the most important since she took office. The Gold Medal was also awarded to president-elect Edmundo González, currently hospitalized in Madrid, whose daughter Carolina accepted the honor on his behalf.
Machado’s visit to Spain unfolded in parallel with the progressive summit in Barcelona, where presidents Pedro Sánchez, Lula da Silva, Gustavo Petro and Claudia Sheinbaum gathered under the Democracy Always banner. Machado refused to meet with Sánchez and took veiled aim at the leaders assembled in Barcelona. If you want to know who is with the regime or with us, just ask whether they want elections or not, she said, referring to leaders she considers ambiguous toward Chavismo.
Instead, the opposition leader met with Spain’s two main opposition figures: Popular Party president Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Vox leader Santiago Abascal. On Friday she received the Golden Key to the city from Mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida. The Medal of Honor ceremony included pointed criticism of Sánchez, Petro, Sheinbaum and Lula.
Machado invoked the January 3 US intervention that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and referred to the government of Delcy Rodríguez as the rodrigato. On January 3 a great burst of energy opened up and nothing can stop it now, she said.
Madrid is home to some 200,000 Venezuelans, the largest concentration of the diaspora in Europe. According to Spain’s National Statistics Institute, 48.7% of Venezuelans over 15 in Spain hold higher education degrees, though 24% work in hospitality and 16% in retail. Half of those registered with Social Security are under 34.
She also visited González at the hospital. He won the July 2024 presidential election according to tally sheets compiled by the opposition, a result the Maduro government never recognized.
