Venezuelan opposition personality Henrique Capriles Radonski came under fire this week for holding talks with Islamist Turkey without the approval of President Juan Guaidó and embracing the parliamentary elections organized by the Maduro regime.
Capriles – a two-time presidential election loser and member of the center-left Justice First party who has not held public office in three years – said that although no formal negotiations took place between himself and the Venezuelan opposition with Turkey, it remains “appropriate to speak with everyone who brings us to a credible solution.”
Addressing his followers in a Twitter broadcast on Wednesday, Capriles urged people to take advantage of the “little slit of opportunity” presented by parliamentary elections in December, which under the control of the Maduro regime are almost certain to be rigged. He added that “fighting is fighting, not tweeting,” and also asked the European Union and the United Nations to attend as observers.
“They do everything because it is not a democratic regime, but if they leave a little gap, we have to take advantage of that little gap and then put our foot in, so that the door does not close,” he explained. “Nobody would have imagined that they were going to free prisoners, perhaps there is a little gap.”
Capriles has taken personal credit for Maduro’s pardon of dozens of left-leaning political prisoners this week.
Among those to criticize him was the rightful mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma, who accused him of “surrendering to a tyrant.”
“It is one thing to fight and another thing to surrender to the tyrant. There is no democracy in Venezuela, a narco-state rules,” contended Ledezma. “We will come out of that by facing the gangs, not giving in to them. The truth will prevail, tyranny will fall and history will give the final judgment.”
Ledezma is currently in exile after his violent arrest by Maduro thugs in 2015.
Socialist “opposition” lawmaker Freddy Guevara, one of the political prisoners pardoned by the Maduro regime this week, an act Capriles has taken credit for, put out a poll asking people if they approved of Capriles’s actions. At press time, nearly 85 percent of respondents said no.
María Corina Machado, leader of the center-right Vente Venezuela party, said that Capriles’s actions were proof that there were political actors in Venezuela determined to appease the Maduro tyranny.
“The events of the last hours confirm that there are political actors who are said to be opposition, yet determined to coexist with tyranny,” she wrote. “Until hours ago they were from the core of the G4 and the Interim Government. That is why any unitary force has to be without accomplices or corrupt.”
The G4 is a coalition of four socialist and left-wing “opposition” political parties, including Guaidó’s and Capriles’ parties.
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero admitted she lost respect for Capriles when he refused to defend his victory in the 2014 presidential elections, which were stolen by the Maduro regime.
“I remember when Capriles won the elections and we celebrated at home. I remember when he didn’t defend his victory. That was my first big disappointment in him and since then, he’s only gone downhill,” she wrote. “Today I read about Turkey. Venezuela is a piñata and they distribute it to all the bandits.”
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