maria corina machado in caracas, venezuela, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, stephen. it s a pleasure. well, it s great to have you on the show. for years, you have argued that participating in democracy in venezuela under nicolas maduro s rule is a grave mistake because it ends up legitimising maduro. so, how come you ve now decided to put your hat in the ring and seek the nomination from the opposition to fight in next year s presidential election? for years, we, the venezuelan people have been explaining to the world the way nicolas maduro has been rigging elections and the turning down, through control and repression, thejudiciary system, the national assembly, as well as the military and every single democratic institution. we ve reached a point in which we realise that maduro is willing to do anything to stay in power, and the only way through which we can confront and defeat him is building a huge, unprecedented, social movement, citizen movement, that is righ
and all the main news stories straight after hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. nicolas maduro, venezuela s authoritarian socialist over the past decade, he s overseen a crumbling economy, of venezuela s population and yet, he is still in power, and the opposition s big idea, the creation of an alternative government, has foundered. my guest, maria corina machado, is currently frontrunner amongst opposition candidates but does she have any realistic chance of toppling venezuela s strongman? maria corina machado in caracas, venezuela, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, stephen. it s a pleasure. for years, you have argued that participating in democracy in venezuela under nicolas maduro s rule is a grave mistake because it ends up legitimising maduro. so, how come you ve now decided to put your hat in the ring and seek the nomination from the opposition to fight in next year s presidential election? for years, we, the venezuelan people have been explaining to the world th
Starting on washington journal followed by the oral argument on cspan, cspan now or our f mobile app or cspan. Org. Venezuelan Opposition Leader and president ial candidate maria spoke about the upcoming venezuelan election and push for democracy. This is 45 minutes on the roundtable. Why dont we start the conversation. If you need some type of translation, im here to translate for you. I do this every day. Going from spanish to english sometimes is difficult but i want the world to see, to hear and to be able to understand to the fullest what youre trying to say. So im more than willing, humbly using giving you that opportunity if you were to need it, all right. So there are no rules. Im not going to have opening remarks but just ask you a couple questions and give the opportunity to the other members that are here. You stayed in venezuela when other political leaders left. Were not blaming anybody. Its very hard to live under a regime that follows the rules of fidel castro, very hard
And we have our representative who is also part of the subcommittee. We have representative zelf who is part of the committee and others will be joining. Why dont we start the conversation. I want to tell you something. If you need some type of translation, im here to translate for you. I do this every day. I know going from spanish to english sometimes is difficult but i want the world to see and hear and to be able to understand to the fullest, what you are trying to say. So i am more than willing, humbly giving you that opportunity if you needed it. So there are no rules. Im not going to say im not going to have an opening remark. Im just going to ask you a couple of questions and i will give the opportunity to the other members who are here. You state in venezuela when other political leaders left. We are not blaming anybody. It is very hard to live under a regime that follows the rules and it is very hard. The question is, why did you stay and how much did it cost you personally .
maria corina machado. welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, stephen, it is a pleasure. great to have you on the show. for years, you have argued that participating in democracy in venezuela under nicolas maduro s rule, is a grave mistake because it ends up legitimising maduro. how come you have now decided to your hat in the ring how come you have now decided to put your hat in the ring and seek the nomination from the opposition, to fight in next year s presidential elections? for years, venezuela s people have been explaining to the world the way nicolas maduro have been rigging elections and turning down through control and repression, thejudiciary system, the national assembly, as well as the military at every single democratic institution. we have reached a point in which we realise maduro is willing to do anything to stay in power. the only way through which we can confront and defeat him is building a huge, unprecedented social movement, citizen movement that is ri