Sawt Falasteen - 'Yes we can!' Venezuela's Machado beats opposition drum in face of threats

As if she was a rock star, they rush to get a glimpse or touch her, holding up babies and children and proffering gifts of rosaries, baseball caps and handwritten notes of support.

On her way to campaign in the western city of Maracaibo this week, hundreds thronged the streets of forgotten towns to get close to Machado's cavalcade, chanting "the leader is coming!", "Liberty!" and "Si, se puede!" (Yes we can!)

People clambered onto roofs for a better view, snapping photos on their cellphones and waving Venezuelan flags as they sang: "This government is going to fall!"

Analysts say Chavismo, the brand of populist socialism introduced 25 years ago by then-president Hugo Chavez and inherited by his successor Nicolas Maduro -- who is seeking a third six-year term -- faces its biggest challenge yet on Sunday.

Though the opposition is led by the disqualified Machado, ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, is its official candidate, with his position far ahead in opinion polls amid an economic collapse that has pushed about seven million Venezuelans to flee.

But many fear Maduro, under investigation by the International Criminal Court for rights violations and sanctioned by the United States, will do anything to prevent electoral defeat.

His regime, which has the electoral commission, courts and military leadership on its side, has already arrested dozens of opposition activists and is accused of holding more than 200 "political prisoners."

- 'We want change' -

"We are here for the future, for our children, for the little ones, for the nephews, for everyone," Luisa Mendoza, 27, told AFP as the motorcade stopped in her town for Machado to chat with supporters, hand out hugs, and pose for selfies.

"We want change," added Elizabeth Campos, 62, who said her village of La Playita was in desperate need of a "high school, running water, roads and a clinic."

Machado, a 56-year-old engineer and mother of three children who all live abroad, advocates for a liberal economic model to replace the Chavismo brand of socialism widely blamed for the once prosperous petro-state's steep decline.

Venezuela's GDP contracted by 80 percent in the six years after Maduro took office in 2013, and saw four successive years of hyperinflation.

The regime blames US sanctions imposed after dozens of Western and Latin American countries rejected Maduro's reelection in 2018 as fraudulent, but analysts say the collapse started much earlier due to deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement.

"We are sincerely hoping (the opposition) will win and lift us out of this poverty," said 42-year-old Dominga Perez, one of the hundreds lining the streets for Machado.

"We want a person who gives us hope, and Maria Corina is that person."

Excited fans accompanied the motorcade on motorbikes, some carrying three or four people.

In the village of Los Pinos, 28-year-old Mariana Escobar waited excitedly with her small children.

"Here, we are all with the opposition," she told AFP. Before, "we were Chavistas... but the people have awoken."

- Obstacles -

Banned from air travel, Machado has criss-crossed the country by road, denouncing state harassment of her entourage and supporters along the way, as well as a wave of arrests that most recently claimed her security chief.

As her motorcade travelled the 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) from Caracas to Maracaibo -- once the epicenter of Venezuela's oil-based wealth -- it encountered closed gas stations.

Thanks to large cannisters brought along for the trip, they could refuel.

Near the entrance to Maracaibo, the campaign hit a police checkpoint.

But Machado's followers were so plentiful that the officers capitulated after just a few minutes and let the motorcade and accompanying vehicles through.

At the bridge over the lake that leads to Maracaibo, however, the National Guard barred people accompanying the entourage on foot from crossing.

Machado waved to her supporters and pressed on to the next rally, with Gonzalez Urrutia by her side.

H.Nasr--SF-PST