CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s highest court on Friday upheld a ban on the presidential candidacy of María Corina Machado, a longtime government foe whose opposition faction is backed by the United States.
The ruling was a slap at an agreement last year between President Nicolás Maduro’s administration and the U.S.-backed opposition aimed at having freer elections in Venezuela. The deal led Washington to ease economic sanctions on Maduro’s government.
Machado, a former lawmaker, won the opposition’s independently run presidential primary in October with more than 90% of the votes. Her victory came despite the government announcing a 15-year ban on her running for office just days after she formally entered the race in June.
She was able to participate in the primary election because the effort was organized by a commission independent of Venezuela’s electoral authorities.
Machado rejected the ban and continued to campaign. She argued that she never received an official notification of the ban, and insisted that voters are the rightful decision-makers of her candidacy.
After the court’s ruling was made public, Machado tweeted that her campaign’s “fight to conquer democracy through free and fair elections” is not over.
“Maduro and his criminal system chose the worst path for them: fraudulent elections,” she wrote. “That’s not gonna happen.”
She did not offer any details of her next steps, and her campaign declined to comment.
Machado in December filed a claim with the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to confirm that the ban was null and void and to pursue an injunction to protect her political rights.
Instead, the court ruled against her and upheld the ban, which alleges fraud and tax violations and accuses her of seeking the economic sanctions the U.S. imposed on Venezuela over the last decade.
Preventing Machado and other candidates from running goes against the agreement between Maduro’s government and the opposition. The deal signed in October on the Caribbean island of Barbados prompted the U.S. government to ease some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, gas and mining industries.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has threatened to reverse some of the sanctions relief if Maduro’s government fails to lift bans preventing Machado and others from running for office, and if it fails to release political prisoners.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Venezuela’s government frequently sidelines adversaries by banning them from public office, and not just in presidential contests.
Such a ban was used retroactively in 2021 to remove gubernatorial candidate Freddy Superlano when he was ahead of a sibling of the late President Hugo Chávez but had not yet been declared the winner. Superlano’s substitute was also kept off the ballot via a ban.
The court on Friday also upheld a ban on former governor and two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.
Geoff Ramsey, senior analyst on Venezuela at the Atlantic Council think tank, said Maduro’s government was never going to let Machado be a presidential candidate because “her popularity makes her too much of a threat.”
“The timing of this will make it almost impossible for the U.S. government to ignore,” he said. “The problem for Washington is that it’s essentially run out of ways to pressure Maduro. How do you threaten a regime that’s already endured multiple coup attempts and years of crippling sanctions?”