Maduro says Maria Corina Machado fled Venezuela; Denies: “parallel universe”

Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has insisted in recent days on the hypothesis that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado fled the country toward Spain, following the same path taken by former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia just over a year ago. But she denied this happened, and declared that Maduro lives in a “parallel world.”

According to the newspaper’s website NacionalThe president, who was re-elected in July by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) in an internationally disputed decision, went to a televised event on Wednesday and joked about María Corina’s alleged escape.

“I have a secret (…), do you know how to keep secrets? Who likes gossip? It turned out to be an old man [como ele se refere a González Urrutia] He left a month ago, and Sayona left too, he ran away (…) He went all the way, to a very good bar somewhere in Spain, that’s all he went to. Please don’t tell anyone about this,” he said.

A Venezuelan folklore legend, the “Sayona” is a vengeful spirit in the form of a woman, wearing a nightgown, who seems to hunt down unfaithful men.

But the opposition appeared yesterday in an interview with EVTV, confirming that it will remain in hiding in Venezuela, fearing for its “life” and “freedom,” and affirming that it will continue fighting inside the country, while Gonzalez Urrutia will do so “from abroad.”

He added: “Venezuelans know that I am here in Venezuela, the people know that, and Nicolas Maduro knows that too. What is happening is that they are desperate to know where I am, and I will not give them that pleasure.”

According to her, Maduro exists in a “parallel world surrounded by bodyguards” because he “knows that the people defeated him” in the presidential elections that took place on July 28.