The national headquarters was closed for almost two years. Sell Venezuela (VV), east of Caracas, before reopening its doors this March 28. A sustained political persecution against its leadership, which led to the arrest of 112 cadres throughout the country, before and after the 2024 presidential elections, was the cause of the closure of the facility in the Chacao municipality.
In full tutelage of the United States government over the government in charge of Delcy Rodríguez, with some advances, setbacks and stagnation in terms of democratic freedoms, the leader of VV and the country’s majority opposition, Maria Corina Machadogave the green light to the reopening of the Quinta Bejucal from exile. A crowd of followers accompanied the event, in which the promise of a soon return of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner to the country, from where she left at the beginning of December 2025, was renewed.
“People are certainly hopeful, but we have to understand that the task is not finished and we have to move forward, as we have always done, through an exercise of citizenship,” warned the national coordinator of VV and former political prisoner, Henry Alviarez When reopening the headquarters, together with the former political prisoner, Maria Oropeza.
For political scientists consulted by Cocuyo Effectthe political organization that served as a platform for the great mobilization of votes for the 2024 presidential elections, in favor of Edmundo González, takes advantage of the minimal space left by the fact that Chavismo lowered the volume on the repression due to Washington’s supervision and the return of the US embassy to Venezuela to become visible again.
At the same time, they maintain, it challenges the interim and measures its levels of tolerance, while calling for the reorganization of its cadres throughout the country (the commandos are ordered to be reestablished) and pushing the allied political parties to do the same, in the face of a soon return of Machado and the holding of new elections.
Does not give up
“A first message is that of not giving up on your objectivesand that of taking advantage of the timid reopening spaces. A space long vetoed, violated, monitored, opens to discussion, training and organization; It is good news,” says political scientist Guillermo Tell Aveledo.
He also highlighted the fact that the reopening ceremony of the VV headquarters was done with a large number of people present, at this political moment, either because the system allowed it or as a challenge.
“It is important to re-energize panelsmilitants and sympathizers of an organization that expanded and was seriously persecuted. Of course, the organization itself does not have the level of popularity of its charismatic leader, but they were the advance guard of their movement throughout the country,” added the dean of Legal and Political Studies of the Metropolitan University.
Machado, who was in hiding for more than a year to avoid being arrested, accompanied the reopening through a video and message: “We are very close to achieving what we have longed for for years, decades. Today we can ensure that what we have done has been worth it.
Once the national headquarters reopened, VV cadres in states such as Zulia, Sucre, Apure, Barinas and Trujillo began to make activism more visible with meetings, assemblies and messages on social networks. The task is to prepare to receive Machado and for new elections that reaffirm the will for change on July 28, 2024. Alviárez hopes that these elections, contrary to other forecasts, can be this year (last quarter of 2026).
“The movement to open the headquarters implies preparing the ground, of course, for the arrival of María Corina Machado; but also straining the interim term of Delcy Rodriguezin a way in which political activism can return without being repressed and with it the right to be able to group and associate. Having allowed the act is also a tacit recognition by the system of VV as an organization or political party,” is the reading of political scientist Raniero Cassoni.
Conditions for return?
Three days after reopening the headquarters in Caracas, Machado fueled reports of an early return to the country and the imminence of a political change with a second closed-door meeting with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
He described the meeting as a “clear signal” and reaffirmed that the Venezuelan transition has the “firm support” of the US and the main democracies in the world. And he once again assured that “the day is approaching” when families in Venezuela will be reunited.
The way in which the so-called “rodrigato” will react to Machado’s eventual return to Venezuelan soil is a great unknown, although it is taken for granted that the former deputy will not return without prior agreement with Donald Trump’s government, to guarantee her safety and physical integrity.
“It is not about asking if the conditions are met; rather, It is about influencing those conditionsbe prepared for it and allow that, in the event of María Corina Machado’s eventual return, there is an activated, organized and mobilized structure. Yes, it can be seen as preparation (reopening the headquarters) and it is the duty of every political organization towards itself to make these provisions, regardless of the will of actors external to it,” says Aveledo.
One day after the meeting with Machado, Rubio asked for “patience” to the Venezuelan people to complete the political transition in the country. He reaffirmed that Venezuela “deserves free and fair elections,” but we have to wait. He also assured that they will not be complacent with the government in charge on the route to the transition. During an interview given to the Hannity program on the Fox News network, the Secretary of State highlighted precisely the reorganization of the political parties as a sign of progress in these three months of the arrest of Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores.
“María Corina requires in some way to press the US, to recognize the rule of law to promote the transition, the choice of the new prosecutor and ombudsman; therefore, it is not only the return of the political leader, but the need for a new Electoral Power, as clear signs towards a transition. Apart from international support, she also understands that she must reinvigorate the internal political movement to reinforce her arrival, but also to promote these changes,” says Cassoni.
Demand reforms
Other political organizations allied to VV, such as Justice First (PJ) and Popular Will (VP), led by two of its leaders and former political prisoners, Juan Pablo Guanipa and Freddy Superlano, have also been resuming activism in the regions, in the face of an eventual presidential election or general elections, still without a precise time.
During the reopening of the VV headquarters, Alviárez urged the commandos and the electoral colleges to reactivate themselves and prepare now for an upcoming presidential election. It has also requested proposals for a management plan before a change of government following the presidential or general elections.
“Society must resolve peacefully and electorally the deficit of democratic legitimacy that afflicts the system, which weakens the responsibility of its temporary (interim) leadership before the country. There is awareness that there are no material and institutional capacities to do so, not to mention political (…) Should this inhibit the sectors prone to democratic opening? On the contrary: it makes the electoral resolution, and the dynamics prior to this resolution (change of the CNE), as or more urgent than other economic or institutional reforms,” Aveledo stressed.
For Cassoni, the necessary opposition reorganization and a new democratic pact must include not only the majority opposition, but also the sector represented in the AN, to from that space, be spokespersons for the pressure for changes. In his opinion, the controversies with this sector regarding the democratic objective are not fundamental, unlike the Democratic Alliance, which is a clear ally of Chavismo in power.
Carmen Antón, one of those attending the reopening of the VV headquarters, from the Santa Teresa parish, stated that she was present because of her personal commitment as a Venezuelan to the rescue of democracy. He maintained that such spaces are vital to “dismantle” the undeserved siege that has limited citizens for a long time in Venezuela.
Without a specific date for his return to the country, Machado continues with an international agenda that, in addition to private meetings to seek support for the Venezuelan democratic cause, includes meetings with the Venezuelan diaspora.
The opposition leader bathed in crowds in Santiago, Chile, did it again in Houston (USA) and is now heading to Madrid, Spain, in an effort to demonstrate the popular support she still enjoys. In Chile and the United States, he assured Venezuelans that they are working hard to ensure that they can exercise their right to vote in the next elections, which was denied by the July 28, 2024.
However, this April 10, through a releaseVV demanded from Parliament declare the absolute absence of Nicolás Maduro so that presidential elections can be held in the next 30 days, in accordance with articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution.
