Schémel: María Corina Machado will die out because she does not understand the people's new political culture

Published at: 29/05/2025 10:08 PM

The president of the polling company Hinterlaces, Óscar Schémel, stressed that the extremist opponent María Corina Machado “cannot change that discourse, she is very committed to this confrontational discourse of hate and subversion and will be extinct, as has happened with all previous leaders in the opposition, we are talking about 20 to 30 since Pedro Carmona Estanga here”.

Instead, he affirmed that “Chavism is not only, I insist, an electoral force, it is an emotional community, it is a new political culture, with a new conscience”.

During an interview on the 360° program, broadcast by Venezolana de Televisión, he stressed that in extremism “they are those leaders who rise and fall because their level of understanding of Venezuelan society and of the new trends of the new Venezuelan society does not exist.”

In this regard, Schémel considered that there are signs that a more sensible position is emerging in other opposition sectors, which “has a better understanding of what is happening in the country and is the leadership that makes up the emerging political sectors, that supports the democratic process, that recognizes institutions and accepts the presence of Chavism and tries to understand the phenomenon that Chavism means.”

He emphasized that the cultural and symbolic changes “that have taken place in the country in the last 25 years are the product of Chavism”.

Schémel reiterated that, in Venezuela, Chavism is in tune with new expectations, and understands that the quality of democracy that Venezuelans demand does not only have to do with voting.

“It is a quality of democracy that gives them prominence, and that is why the Community Councils have taken hold, that is why the consultations to define an agenda of solutions in the neighborhood and that is why the new leadership emerges within Chavism,” he explained.

In that context, he asked: “Tell me a single space, tell me about a space where there is grassroots work on the part of the opposition?” , recommending that the new democratic opposition leadership rethink the country, to understand what Venezuelan society has experienced in the last 25 years, political, social and cultural changes.

“The opposition must understand that you cannot lead, I insist a lot on that, you cannot lead a country that you don't understand and that you don't feel. They must have a greater link with society, with the street citizen,” he said.

Schémel pointed out that the Bolivarian Revolution is on the streets and the presence of Chavism in grass-roots organizations is an unprecedented example.

“I speak to you, you are in tune, you need to deepen that harmony, but you are in tune and what I think (the opposition) urgently needs is to equip yourself with a symbolic and emotional linguistic repertoire. He needs it urgently,” he said.