The world wanted Maduro gone - so why is he still calling the shots in Venezuela?
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado talks the durability of the Maduro regime
A year ago this week, Juan Guaido, the president of Venezuela's opposition-dominated National Assembly, swore the oath of office as interim president of the country. Canada — along with about 60 other nations — was quick to recognize him.
Canada already had warned President Nicolas Maduro that it would never recognize the results of the fraudulent presidential elections of 2018, or the parallel legislature Maduro created where no opposition members sat at all.
In Venezuela and around the world, many believed the regime's days were numbered. Tough new sanctions appeared to cut off its supply of hard currency and the government had already run its own currency, the bolivar, into the ground.
But a year later, Maduro is still ensconced in the Miraflores presidential palace — and the Venezuelan armed forces are still backing him.
What happened?
Maria Corina Machado — known to many Venezuelans only as MCM — has been a member of congress and a presidential candidate in Venezuela, where she leads the opposition party Vente. She's announced her intention to run again to lead her country, if it ever has another free election.
CBC's The House spoke with Maria Corina Machado in Caracas on Friday, just after her return from a tour of Venezuela's devastated interior.
