The same weekend that Barcelona hosted the progressive summit and an event with various Latin American leaders in defense of Democracy, in Madrid, the presence of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado stood out. She received a distinction from the Community of Madrid from its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and met in the preceding hours with both the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, and Vox’s Santiago Abascal, in addition to the capital’s mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida.
La Moncloa, once aware of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s presence in Spain, extended an invitation to the opposition leader to meet with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. However, it was not reciprocated. The Venezuelan leader declined the appointment. This Saturday, Machado reaffirmed her stance, stating that “after what happened in Barcelona” – in allusion to the progressive summit – it demonstrates that the meeting with the head of the central Executive was not “convenient”.
“I believe that what happened in the last few hours at the meeting in Barcelona with various political leaders from different countries is the demonstration of why such a meeting is not convenient,” Machado asserted during a press conference, where she also expressed gratitude for the welcome Spain has extended to the Venezuelan community in recent years, which mobilized this Saturday in the presence of the opposition leader.
In the preceding hours, within the framework of the Spain-Brazil bilateral summit, both the President of the Government and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had called for non-political interference in Venezuela.
The morning event was followed by another in the afternoon at Puerta del Sol, where Ayuso presented Machado with the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid, an award with which Argentine President Javier Milei was recognized two years ago.
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Thousands of citizens originally from Venezuela filled the vicinity of the regional government headquarters to express their support for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and demand the return of democracy to their country.
“This afternoon marks the beginning of our return to Venezuela,” Machado proclaimed during her speech at Puerta del Sol, from where she called on all those who have had to flee the country to contribute to moving “without delay” towards “clean elections.” At the press conference, she assured that she remains in contact with Washington – the United States supports Nicolás Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodríguez – to be able to return to her country. “This afternoon marks the beginning of our return. From here, we begin to prepare this new phase in which millions of us will return together to build a country of which we can all be proud,” Machado stated.
Upon concluding the institutional event, Machado and Ayuso stepped out onto the building’s balcony to greet the thousands of Venezuelans waiting in Plaza del Sol and declared that she would soon be able to hand the keys of Caracas to the Madrid president. The Venezuelan leader was acclaimed with shouts of “¡Presidenta!” (President!). Her followers also called for “¡libertad!” (freedom!) and her appearance was accompanied by a strong ovation, applause, and shouts of approval. “With all this energy I am feeling from you, we are going to return to Venezuela,” reiterated the opposition leader, who ended up leading the mobilization on a stage, now without the institutional attire she had worn at the government headquarters.
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