Omar González Moreno, national leader of Vente Venezuela, announced this Saturday that María Corina Machado will return to the country "very soon" and warned that next Wednesday, July 3rd, marks the deadline of 180 days mandated by the constitution that requires declaring the absolute absence of the president and calling for new elections.
González Moreno made these statements in an interview with CiberCuba in which he also discussed the response of civil society to the earthquakes on June 24 that resulted in 920 deaths and more than 3,360 injured in Venezuela.
Regarding Machado's return, the leader was straightforward: "María Corina will be in Venezuela very soon. In fact, I believe that if it had been up to her, she would already be traveling across the country at this moment, but perhaps it's to avoid politicizing a tragedy as terrible as the one we are currently experiencing."
Machado has been announcing her return for months without finalizing it. On March 1, 2026, she stated that she would return "in a few weeks," and at the end of that month, Vente Venezuela reiterated that it would be "in the coming days".
Meanwhile, the party—founded 14 years ago by Machado—has coordinated with universities, unions, and businesspeople to gather equipment and machinery to address the emergency. "Because it's not just a party; it's the whole country. Universities, unions, and businesspeople are collecting equipment and machinery," stated González Moreno.
The most urgent point of their statements was the constitutional deadline. "On July 3, the one hundred eighty days established by the Constitution of Venezuela for declaring the absolute absence of the president of the republic will be fulfilled, and consequently, new elections must be called," they recalled.
The leader was emphatic in ruling out any extension: "There is no possibility of prolonging this any further. Constitutionally, it cannot be extended."
This deadline is activated from the moment Delcy Rodríguez assumed the interim presidency on January 5, 2026, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in the so-called "Operation Absolute Resolution".
Organizations such as Access to Justice have pointed out that the figure of "forced absence" under which Rodríguez exercises power does not exist in the Venezuelan Constitution, and that three months after the expiration of the temporary absence period the pro-government National Assembly has avoided activating the electoral mechanisms.
González Moreno warned that if Rodríguez intends to remain in power beyond July 3 without calling for elections, the consequences will be severe: "As of July 3, if she intends to continue at the helm of the regime, the constitutional thread has been broken and consequently, we are faced with another dictatorship."
He clarified, however, that the deadline does not require that the elections be held on that same day, but rather that they be called: "It doesn't necessarily have to take place on July 3, but it should be called, and hopefully it will be this year. The Venezuelan people demand that it be this year, and it is possible to do so."
The leader also directly appealed to the role of Washington. He described the United States as a "great ally of the Venezuelan people" and recalled that its intervention was decisive in bringing Maduro to face charges in a court in New York.
“At this moment, the United States could complete the task by demanding that what the Constitution states be upheld and that elections be called very soon, as soon as possible,” he concluded.
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