Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado tells Sen. Ben Cardin the fight against Nicolás Maduro will go on

 
INA-sources
 
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin on Wednesday that support from the U.S. is a “moral reference” for those protesting the government of President Nicolás Maduro, according to a summary of the call obtained first by NBC News.
 
“Every time you speak out, it reaches us and gives us strength to move ahead, and we know we are not alone,” Machado told Cardin, D-Md. A bipartisan group of senators, including Cardin, issued a joint statement supporting the opposition before the call Wednesday. 
 
Machado went into hiding in Venezuela after Maduro was declared the winner of the July 28 presidential election, despite mounting evidence the opposition gathered from polling locations that it says proves opposition candidate Edmundo González, a Machado ally, defeated him.

González, 75, has been recognized by the U.S. and many others in the international community as Venezuela’s president-elect even though the National Electoral Council, which is stacked with members of Maduro’s ruling party, has upheld his victory.

González, who ran in Machado’s place because her candidacy was banned, sought asylum in Spain on Sunday — one week after Venezuelan authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. 

He was charged with publishing the opposition’s tally of the ballots and insisting that he was the rightful victor over Maduro, among other alleged offenses. Maduro party officials have accused the opposition of promoting violence, among other claims. 

The call with Cardin was the first time Machado has spoken with a U.S. official since González’s exile.

“I want to reassure you that we will not surrender. This fight is until the end, regardless of what they do to us — we won’t stop,” Machado told Cardin from an undisclosed location.

In a statement, Cardin said he emphasized to Machado that “while Maduro may try to crush” her hope, “the world’s democracies will not stand idly by.”

Source: NBC News