Starting on washington journal followed by the oral argument on cspan, cspan now or our f mobile app or cspan. Org. Venezuelan Opposition Leader and president ial candidate maria spoke about the upcoming venezuelan election and push for democracy. This is 45 minutes on the roundtable. Why dont we start the conversation. If you need some type of translation, im here to translate for you. I do this every day. Going from spanish to english sometimes is difficult but i want the world to see, to hear and to be able to understand to the fullest what youre trying to say. So im more than willing, humbly using giving you that opportunity if you were to need it, all right. So there are no rules. Im not going to have opening remarks but just ask you a couple questions and give the opportunity to the other members that are here. You stayed in venezuela when other political leaders left. Were not blaming anybody. Its very hard to live under a regime that follows the rules of fidel castro, very hard. The question is why did you stay and how much did it cost you personally . I have stayed because i have extreme confidence in our people and i understand our lives in freedom and in my country and because were trying to turn venezuela into that marvelous nation to which our children can be coming back and will come back. Id just like to give you a few ideas what were facing right now so maybe we can Start Talking among us. First of all, im supergrateful to all of you, for the committee and Staff Members for this unique opportunity to convey the thoughts of the venezuelan people here and abroad. I want to tell you that we do have a real opportunity for a peaceful transition in venezuela through president ial elections that vital constitutions could take place this year. The situation today is very different to other opportunities weve had in the last 25 years. The relative trend of the regime and of our people. The regime is in their weakest position ever, even though they shout and only have at their resource violence and terror. We on the Opposition Forces are stronger than ever. And i know this has been a long fight. Some people its very painful and some feel confusion or skepticism or fatigue. But i want to remind you that many of the main issues and challenges and problems all converge in venezuela. Im talking about security because of the regime and iran and russia, cuba, hezbollah. Im talking about the energy crisis, Global Energy crisis that the regime has destroyed, the infrastructure. And we can turn venezuela into the energy hub of america because of the criminal networks and the drug activity. Venezuela is the fourth coke producer in the world and certainly the humanitarian crisis that has had the devastating effect that almost eight Million People have left our country. Imagine that would represent 84 million of American People leaving your country. Imagine what this means to us. It is the largest migration crisis, not syria or ukraine, but it is venezuela. Finally the human rights dimension, venezuela is the last, last country in the rule of law by the World Justice Project in this 142 countries, were in last place, venezuela. We have more than 300 Political Prisoners and the largest torture center in latin america. Cuban nations have been involved in torture cases in our country. Right now as we speak, there are four members of our Campaign Teams that have disappeared from the forces of our regime. I dont know where they are and disappeared january 23. So i want to come to this point the time is now. We have a huge opportunity. The regime is weakened, first because they have lost their social base completely. Second, because they have classes among the massive groups because theyve robbed and sacked the country. And third, International Pressure for free elections have been global, even in some of government or groups that used to be close to make youdo to mahudo. The vibrato agreement, you sad down with maduro and it was decided there would be free elections and each side would pick the candidate. You play by the rules, you went through a primary, it was your vote with 92 of the votes. Every elected official would like to have those numbers. The maduro courts are now saying youre disqualified and the main question here for all of us in the United States in both Political Parties is, are you afraid your International Supporters will abandon you for what they call plan b . No, im not. I am not. I trust i will have the support. And its not only me, maria, its almost three million venezuelan people who voted in the primary, an heroic process, a process thats made all the opposition finally come together with a legitimate leadership that has today more than 80 support. So this is huge. Its not about me but about the rise of the venezuelan people to choose the candidate and the leader they want to face. The fact is that maduro wants to choose his counterpart because he wants to control someone he can control and defeat. I do believe i do have the support. Not only as were seeing today by a bipartisan approach, by the Biden Administration, by the u. S. Congress and also the european union, the European Parliament and many departments in latin america as well. Were with you. Representative castro. Thank you, their chop and thank you, ms. Machado, for visiting us today. Its good to see you safe and in good health and fighting for democracy to make sure the nation of venezuela is a democratic nation. I also want to congratulate you on the primary elections organized by the opposition. The veepsian people have struggled for their democratic rights for years especially since maduros regimes have dismissed the National Assembly in 2017 and survived the venezuelan constitution soon after. I had the privilege of speaking with other opposition voices including the lead negotiators of the unitary platform and human rights defenders and appreciate this opportunity to speak with you. Its unfortunate we have to meet in tv but not in person bass you would not be allowed to return. I was involved when they reached the electoral conditions necessary for competitive democratic elections. That agreement, signed in barbados and facilitated by our partners in the caribbean and efforts by the Biden Administration have not come to pass, unfortunately. The United States in support of the agreement provided limited sanctions relief with the expectation for all candidates for office would be reinstated. That all who want to run for the presidency be allowed to and that wrongfully u. S. Detained as well as political risenners be released. Im encouraged by the steps taken by the regime including the release of an american citizen who thankfully is now back with his family but the regime backed court effort to disqualify you who definitively won the primary election is inconsistent with the terms of the barbados agreement. I dont think any of us were under the illusion the venezuelaian people would have completely Fair Elections in 2024 but i believe the negotiating process was key to establishing some type of electoral transition and framework to demonstrate the opportunity to mr. Maduro and to the world. He shouldnt be able to handpick his opponent and is threatened by your candidacy. Only the venezuelan people should pick their leader and president. Not the United States or any other part of the world but the venezuelaian people. Im not suggesting the United States again in any way back a specific candidate. Thats a matter for the people of venezuela yeah. Our role has and should be to work with the venezuelan people to establish the process needed to return to competitive elections and a democratic society. Were at a Crucial Point in venezuela yeahs history. The venezuelan opposition has made Great Strides in putting aside their differences and uniting. That was no small feat as you know my message to the venezuelan people is not to squander this opportunity and dont let Nicholas Maduro plinter your movements and delay your process through these tactics. I support the Biden Administration assistance to reverse the protection policy and replace it with productive dialogue with the venezuelan people and all parts of the opposition including civil society, the private sector and local communities. I also agree with president bidens position that these negotiations are not about one person but a process. Ive always said it was on the left or right of the political spectrum as long as you have a commitment to democracy. Unfortunately Nicholas Maduro has not. The ban on ms. Machados candidacy is clearly legitimate but still believe theres room to negotiate to push the maduro regime to return to full compliance with the commitments made in barbados. And your participation in this process is absolutely essential. We cannot and will not allow mre disrupting the democratic playing field. We must continue pushing for a inclusive negotiated process that represents the views of all that is well in society. Ensuring a democratic transition and prosperous economy for venezuelans is not only beneficial to the country and region but to the United States as well. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very up. Thank you very up. I am completedly counterpart agrees with the republican party, i repeat, were not republicans or democrats when it comes to venezuela seeking freedom. And holding maduro accountable to what he agreed on. I thank you, representative castro for expressing the desire that we have. There are no Political Parties here and ive made very clear and have sent a message to the white house were here to work with them but need to make sure we are there are free, Fair Elections, Transparent Elections where they allow you to run and let the venezuelan people decide who they want the next president to be and theres no plan b. You were chosen and played by the rules and we have to respect that. Even more the United States. And the white house has a leading role here. The Biden Administration has a humongous role to play in supporting you and forcing the regime to play by the rules that they committed to. Thats my position and once again, i thank you, representative castro. Id love to work with you like this in every single issue. Let me give the opportunity now to representative huizenga and you have time, too. Theres no time limits. Welcome. Thank you. Its a pleasure to meet you. Ive seen you do interviews recently on u. S. Media. Youve done an amazing job explaining whats going on. There is no need for the chairwoman to clarify her position with the passion that she has with what is happening. I represent millions of venezuelans. Not only millions of venezuelans, but millions of freedom loving people who are looking for liberty and opportunity and freedom so you symbolize that. I want to start off with doing something you dont normally always do. I sit on the Financial Services committee as well as the Foreign Affairs committee. One of the things i deal with a lot is sanctions. Ive been critical of the Biden Administration and some of the their sanctions and applications or lack thereof when its come to iran and other places but i want to commend them for their stand on venezuela. As representative castro said the barbados accord is an important statement and an important line in the sand for this administration and for our country and hopefully countries around in the region and im pleased to see the state department is reconsidering whether its going to renew the easing of the sanctions on oil and gas. That should be up in the middle of april. I, too, want to lend my voice in that. Let me start with a question. Are you personally having direct talks either with the people at the state department or white house or is that going through the coalition negotiators . And then beyond that, what has been the reaction as youve been telling your story in other countries in latin america, brazil, chile, how has that reaction been and have you had any cooperation from the neighbors to the north or those of us from michigan to the east in canada, have they been supportive as well. Thank you very much. Yes, ive been in contact with members of the government in the white house and the state department. As i do in many other countries in north america and europe. Weve been receiving huge support. I have to say the regime in banning me and therefore as weve been saying, violating the rights of millions of venezuelans who voted for me and wanted to vote has created a wave of rejection. I think it was a huge mistake the regime did but im very grateful to see the approach of venezuela feels bipartisan and were all committed to a true negotiation process. And the respect for the agreement. I have to say all the parts comply with the barbados agreement commitment, the opposition parties, the u. S. Government, and in my own part but maduro once again violated his part. And that is the reason we are here right now. We have time for that process to resume and meanwhile, i keep on working hard on creating friends and organizing our Citizens Network here and abroad. I have a moment left. Talk about the transition. Lets assume hopefully assume maduro will allow this election and actually they havent set a date for the election but lets assume the election will move forward. Do you have any belief or faith the outcome of that election where its anticipated you would win, that that would be recognized and that a transition would be allowed . I have no doubt an election will take place. It will be a white flag. What were achieving is a political defeat and thats already taken place. Now we need the electoral part of it. And the base of the country is united. I believe that there is enough incentives for other groups close to the regime to understand it is in their own best interest to facilitate this transition process and that is part of my responsibility nowadays, to give guarantees to all sides this will be a orderly process ahead. My time has expired. Now im going to give the opportunity to representative keith self. Thank you very much, madam chair. This is a rare opportunity and im very grateful for it. I am less optimistic. My 25 years in the army, my experience is dictators do not give up power peacefully. Maduro would lose in the election. I believe those are in my mind fairly strong facts. Given that, id like to know your opinion of the real way ahead. You have no date, i understand. I would like to know your recommendations on your energy, recommendations for the u. S. Government on Venezuelan Energy and then how long can this, what you call an opportunity for peaceful transition last . Because in my experience, dictators want to wait you out until the fervor is gone, until the Popular Support is gone. So my questions all deal with the fact that in my experience, dictators do not give up peacefully. You know the history of south america far better than i do. Those are my questions. I want to give a sense of how do you see this playing out. Thank you, representative self. I appreciate your question because i think its important for what youre saying. I dont think my regime is willing toll willing to leave power yet. The fact is we cant be naive. Weve been facing this for 25 years. Weve all made mistakes and had wonderful moments but believe me, weve never had the silence of force before. The regime is cracking and we need to create all the incentives for all those forces or actors that still support the regime to understand they should be aligned with a transition at the end favors everyone, starting with our neighboring countries. I mean, the president of brazil and columbia and others should be the most interested and we solve the problem in our own country. But sectors are still supporting maduro. How does this play out . How long can the fervor last . You think you have reached a crescendo. How long can it last and how do you see it playing out . How its been evolving, representative. A year ago venezuela was seeing surrender and people thought there was no hope and the country looked weak, divided and sad. We managed in just a year to awaken the country, to create a feeling of willingness to fight, to bring people together and demolished the barriers the regime has given thousand. The regime underestimated us. The primary process was not going to take place or it was a failure, that no one expected half a Million People participating and we almost got three Million People. People have lost dependence on the regime because they really it goes beyond the existential issues. People tell me everywhere, i need you to bring back my kids and this is the last chance. Believe in the organization. Create incentives so the regime will sit down and negotiate with me a transition that gives guarantees to all the parts involved. Negotiate with me a transition negotiate with me a transition dictators dont give up easily. They own 100 of the market. Maduro among them. The market. Maduro, among them. He said effective organization. Is the maduro regime allowing you to mobilize and organize the masses that are going to vote against him . What do you face day by day, not only on the personal side, but on the effort that youre telling me that you need to put together under the boot of a dictator . Can you share that with us . But that is a good point. Precisely the fact that we have that threat that unites the country. It is a threat to them. That is why they are going so hard against us. Im not allowed to buy a domestic plane ticket. Even the biggest groups in venezuela, they want to stop me from reaching our assemblies. People that assist us. Many times, we are attacked. But even so, without having public transportation, thousands of people show up. This is something that is spreading among all sectors. And all sectors, people that work with the police sector. People in the military. They have families. They have wives and children. They also want to live with dignity and have their children back. So need to isolate this regime as they violate this. If maduro gets out of the electoral vote, it should be isolated. It is in his own interest to stay in the agreement and have this transition take place peacefully. It will not be easy. This is the hardest time. This is the most dangerous moment we have gone through, but believe me, we are committed to going until the end. Madam chair, i would like you to expand. This is Bill Huizenga again. What is happening with the economy . How is that affecting people . I had the opportunity to visit caracas 25 years ago. It was a challenged economy back then. My understanding is it has gotten continually worse. Some of that has been because of the sanctions. But just described to us and those watching and listening, what life is like for the venezuelan people right now, and how that has maybe led the to have this movement of courage that you are experiencing with people fighting through the literal and figurative roadblocks that are in front of them to come out and make sure that they are expressing themselves. Thank you. It has increased over 80 in the last decade. It is because we have a regime that has intentionally destroyed the quality of life and separated our families in order to keep control of our nation. Today, the pensions for the elderly are less than four dollars per month. A teacher earns one dollar a day. The response the regime has given is that they only have School Classes two days a week. So teachers can get Something Else and do Something Else. Our hospitals are without water. Without medicine. Without any attention. How about food availability and then the basics of life of housing, electricity, those kinds of things . You need 300 minimum wage to give food to your family. Monthly wages. That is a reality. So that is why we are seeing people it is. A place without a future for our children. My goal is to bring all those venezuelans who have left back home. That is my goal and my commitment. In order to do that, we need to defeat Nicolas Maduro because people leave when they dont have a future. We represent the possibility of having a future with dignity and freedom in venezuela. This is a huge opportunity for all the region and certainly for all venezuelans come that we cannot let go. What would you propose is some of the first basic things that you would do to try to help the economy if maduro was to relinquish and youre able to come to office . Oh, and we have a frozen screen, unfortunately. There we go. Can you hear me now . Yes. I did hear it. What would the steps be with the economy to help relieve that situation . Absolutely. Rule of thumb. Independent judiciary system. Open markets. We need to bring investment. We need to turn venezuela into the energy hub of the americas. Open our markets for private and national and International Investment and trust. We need to create. Employment, so that we can have a growing middle class that has opportunities. And this can be done. Believe me. This can be done relatively fast, even though we have a huge and complex crisis in many layers. We know what we have to do. Venezuela has a huge potential that can be developed. Also, the talent of those that have left but want to come back. Thank you. Maria corina, you were talking about maduro. Sometimes people say, he is not really in control. He shares power with the cubans. You are talking about him. Lets suppose that he decides because it is convenient for him and his family, to be part of this transition. But what about the other factions . How strong are they . Who do we have two really negotiate with . Has that changed . I dont know. You can explain more thoroughly. It is complex. There are different groups with different interests. Certainly, we will not go into the system of impunity, but as i said before, the great challenge here is to remove those pillars that support the regime and are willing to involve themselves in a democratic process in a democratic system. Some of these negotiations have to be done progressively. Some groups will dissolve in that process. This is something that will require this is important. It is political support. It takes credibility and trust from the venezuelan people to accept and support the result of a negotiation process such as the one i just described. I want to give the opportunity to representative castro to say the final words, and then ill do the same thing, if no other representative attends this hearing. I wanted to say, thank you for fighting for democracy in venezuela. I cant imagine the courage and the mettle it takes to stand up to stand up to someone like Nicolas Maduro, who has ruled venezuela now with an iron fist for quite some time, and to still organize and rally folks and push for democratic processes. Thank you so much for doing that. What we hope for the venezuelan people is a process that allows them to elect the leader they choose in a democratic way with free and Fair Elections. And all of us, regardless of party here will keep pushing for that. So thank you so much. Thank you very much, representative castro. Thank you for being here today. Now, im going to give the floor to representative self. He has a couple more questions. Just two points. First of all, i guess the way i would phrase this is you are saying all of the right things. Youre taking the high road. You are discussing democracy. But if there is truly 80 that are against the regime, or thereabouts, who is going to lead the popular peaceful and i will just say peaceful uprising of the venezuelan people . And second, my second question is because it cant be you, i dont think. Well see how it plays out. The second question, have you offered exiled to maduro . I recommend , whoever this person is, and maybe the United States can help you with this, to offer him exile. It often happens. It works. So those are my two questions. Thats interesting. Your second question. Certainly, some actors abroad could offer some of the members of the system a possibility to live safely abroad. But it is only us who can offer some of them the possibility of a future in venezuela. That requires a true and profound and, lets say, cautious negotiation. The terms, i believe i should not make public before hand. Following those lines, what can the United States do in a bipartisan fashion to help you . What can we do specifically as a country to further the fact that you need to run for president and give the opportunity to the venezuelans to go and have a moment of silence and vote with their conscience . What can this country do . Joaquin castro is here. Im here. Both parties are united. How can we accomplish this goal . Well, first of all, i want to say, yes, they are doing this. This is a huge step. Im very grateful for all of you. We have to highlight the urgency and the importance of solving the venezuelan conflict, and the impact it will have on the rest of the region. Imagine what a transition of venezuela will mean for cuba and nicaragua. And what it will mean also for the United States. And this is something we need to highlight. And something very important. The regime has been effective in demoralizing us. In creating the narrative that they are unbeatable. That it is not possible to defeat them. This is not true. We have to show why. He has to comply with what he signed in the agreement. We need to get more and more and more actors involved in the private sector, in the financial sector, in the energy sector. And in civil society, because all interests are aligned with this solution for venezuela and for the region. So thank you very much. This has been huge. Im very grateful on behalf of the venezuelan people. We are delighted. Now, im going to give the word to mario ballard. [ speaking in a nonenglish language ] you are the person who received the votes of the venezuelan people. People say that, you know, you are the leader of the opposition. I would respectfully disagree. You are the leader of the venezuelan people. Every venezuelan that has the possibility to say what they believe and has been able to vote has asked you to represent them. And so, just know that we are aware of that, and we are also aware of the great personal risk that you are under. And i, for one, am very frustrated when i see an administration in the United States that seems to be reluctant or slow to acknowledge just the reality. And the reality is you are the leader. Youre the person who is the candidate for president. Number one. Number two is that, giving sanctions relief based on fake promises, and then even when those promises are broken, still not snapping back those sanctions is something that is unacceptable, but know that we are working on that. And what my colleague here said is so true. There is very strong bipartisan support for the people of venezuela, and you who are the one person they have said represents them, and to the last point, if they are so unbeatable, if they really were unbeatable, you know what they would do . They would have free elections and show the people that. But the reality is that the people reject them. That is why they have to use intimidation and force. But just know that i am so proud of you. It is a privilege to consider yourself a person to have a chance to meet a number of times. Just know that there is no confusion here. [ speaking in a nonenglish language ] [ speaking in a non english language ] i have other responsibilities. Thank you, madam chair. [ speaking in a nonenglish language ] [ speaking in a nonenglish language ] [ speaking in a nonenglish language ] thank you to all the congresspeople that participated. [ speaking in a nonenglish language ] cspan washington journal a live forum involving you to discuss the issues in government, politics and from washington d. C. Coming up thursday morning. Well discuss the section 3 of the 14th amendment of the constitution as u. S. Supreme court barring him from the g. O. P. Primary ballot and with legal scholars. Cspan washington journal, join in the conversation on thursday morning on cspan. Org. 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