Maria Corina Machado ban signed under threat, ex-judge says

Former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice Barbara Cesar Siero told AFP she signed off on banning opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from elections because of government threats, renewing demands for the ban to be overturned.

Cesar, 51, served on the Supreme Court from December 2014 to February 2024. She said two of her brothers and her sister-in-law, all military personnel, were arrested in December 2023 to pressure her into signing the ban.

“I thought to myself: maybe if I sign, they'll give them back,” Cesar told AFP. “I ended up signing, and they kept them in detention.”

Machado won an opposition primary in 2023 to challenge then-president Nicolas Maduro in the following year's election, but the ban prevented her from formally becoming a candidate. Her party designated Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as her replacement at short notice.

Maduro was declared the winner of the July 2024 vote. The opposition claimed the election was marred by fraud, and the results were not recognised by much of the international community.

Machado's Vente party said the ban was achieved by using a judge's relatives “as hostages” and called for her ineligibility to be lifted immediately. The party also called for an urgent investigation.

Cesar said she was brought nine orders to sign after her relatives were arrested, including the ban on Machado. She said one of her brothers remains in detention, while her other brother and sister-in-law are free under judicial supervision.

Cesar said there is no independence of the judiciary in Venezuela and said the proclamation of Maduro's 2024 victory was “truly not in accordance with the law.”