CARACAS, Feb 5 — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is expected to seek another term in elections not yet scheduled but anticipated for later this year, said yesterday that the “people in power” would surely win.
“We are the people in power... We will win one way or another,” Maduro told thousands of supporters in the capital for a rally marking the 32nd anniversary of the failed coup led by Hugo Chavez, who later became president and designated Maduro as his successor.
His remarks come a day before a meeting called by legislative assembly speaker Jorge Rodriguez to decide the date of the next national elections.
Last year, Maduro’s government and the opposition reached a mediated deal in Barbados to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 with international observers present.
That agreement saw the United States ease sanctions against the South American country, allowing US-based Chevron to resume limited oil extraction and leading the way to a prisoner swap.
The deal required that opposition candidates be able to appeal previous rulings that they were ineligible to hold office.
However the Supreme Court, loyal to Maduro, recently upheld a 15-year ban on opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado, among other opposition figures.
That resulted in the United States announcing it would reimpose some sanctions.
Maduro invited Rodriguez on stage yesterday, praising the “strong manner” in which he reacted to the backlash over the Machado ineligibility ruling.
“The meeting called for tomorrow (Monday) by the regime ignores the commitment it signed in favour of free and fair elections in the Barbados agreement,” Machado said yesterday on X. — AFP
