Sheinbaum, on the arrest of María Corina Machado: “We have never been in favor of the criminalization of the political opposition, but we have to wait to see what happened”
Claudia Sheinbaum continues to juggle to fit her Government’s position in the face of the Venezuelan crisis. Regarding the confusing arrest and subsequent release this Thursday of the opposition leader, María Corina Machado, she stated: “First you have to listen to the information well, I think she is going to give a conference today to find out what happened. In any case, we have never been in favor of the criminalization of the political opposition, we do not agree with it, of course we obviously respect the sovereignty of the people, but hey, we have to wait and see what happened, because we don’t know. This is our opinion and we do it in Mexico, we do not persecute anyone for their ideas or opinions. I am not saying that it should be pursued elsewhere, but, in general, we do not agree with that, there has to be freedoms.”
Months ago, the president of Mexico asked the president of the South American country, Nicolás Maduro, to deliver the minutes of last July’s elections that, according to the consensus of the international community, gave victory to the opposition candidate Edmundo González. Now, in an attempt to appear neutral, Sheinbaum has ended up sending the Mexican ambassador to Venezuela as a representative of his Administration to Maduro’s inauguration, effectively legitimizing the Chavista leader. “We defend our foreign policy from the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people, they are the ones who have to decide, there does not have to be an intervention in any way, but the people of Venezuela decide. “Not just as a personal opinion, but as president, that is the foreign policy of our country.”
Unlike Sheinbaum, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, one of the main representatives of the Latin American left, has toughened his speech against Maduro. “From the political left I tell you that the Government of Nicolás Maduro is a dictatorship,” he said Thursday after learning of the arrest of Corina Machado. Questioned about the Chilean’s statements, the Mexican president responded: “I wouldn’t want to get into controversy.”
