Cooks and fishermen, collateral victims in attack against Venezuelan opposition

Three sisters cook empanadas outdoors in a town in Venezuelaforced by the closure of their modest restaurant after the passage of the opposition María Corina Machado, collateral damage in the midst of an official attack ahead of the presidential elections on July 28.

“CLOSED”, reads on a sticker from the tax entity Seniat on the façade of the premises of Corina Hernández and her sisters Mileidis and Elys Cabrera in Corozopando, a remote transit town with about 600 inhabitants in the state of Guárico (center), which has become a symbol of resistance.

“Until the end”, reads a small sign written by hand and placed just below the one posted by Seniat. It is the slogan with which Machado ends each rally, politically disqualified although a favorite in the polls, a popularity that she uses in favor of the campaign of her replacement, the unknown diplomat Edmundo González.

“Corozopando con Venezuela”, “With María Corina”, “We are with you”, “Freedom!”is read on the same paper in smaller letters, all in light blue, the color that distinguishes Machado’s campaign.

The measure is repeated: at least four hotels where Machado stayed in four different cities were closed, and a fisherman who transported her by river in the neighboring state of Apure (west) when supporters of the ruling party blocked his path, the military confiscated his boat and fled the country out of fear.

“We didn’t know she was coming,” Corina, 43, tells AFP. “It is somewhat unfair because we receive everyone who arrives.”

With several leaders arrested, the opposition denounces persecution ahead of these elections in which President Nicolás Maduro aspires to a third term that will see him remain in power for 18 years.

“Abuse of power”

Machado, the soul of the opposition campaign and accused by the government of promoting sanctions against the country, is also prohibited from traveling by plane or traveling through the territory by car.

This is how he arrived at the Hernández premises, on May 22, when making a stop in Corozopando, an obligatory stop on the route to Apure, which is reached by passing a road where herds of cows wander imperturbably.

The Seniat arrived half an hour after finishing the service at this location with old stoves and an old refrigerator patched with pieces of cardboard and plastic tape.

“They just closed the business to us,” adds Corina, who inherited from her older brother, in Peru six years ago, the skill of preparing corn flour empanadas that they sell for one dollar.

“In 20 years the Seniat had not come here,” he assures. “They asked us for a fiscal machine (to print official invoices) that costs about US$1,500 and to pay a fine of US$300.” Seniat did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

Even though they were closed, they resumed selling breakfast at four tables arranged in the patio under a leafy mamón tree. There is no electricity, but in the dark and steamy kitchen, the work continues: Corina stretches the dough and puts the filling on the empanadas, which she then fries in a cauldron with bubbling oil; her aunt Nazareth Mirabal shreds chicken; Her sister Elys serves coffee alongside a nephew, Aaron, who helps serve customers.

After the incident, some travelers stop to take photos and express support. Some donate ingredients and others have offered to paint the faded letters on the façade.

“It is an abuse of power,” considers Raúl Pacheco, 42, after taking a photograph with the famous posters.

“We want to recover the canoe”

Rafael Silva, a 49-year-old fisherman, fled “far” when he found out that the National Guard was looking for him after confiscating the boat in which he transported Machado, which was also on loan, said his wife, Yusmari Moreno.

“He had to leave here, so they wouldn’t arrest him,” says this domestic worker, mother of two children, ages 14 and 7. “We had already seen a lot of news that they had closed kiosks and things like that where she was passing.”

Without the resources to pay for a new canoe, Yusmari is desperate and cries for the boat to be returned to its owner: “What we want is to get it back.”

At the Hernández sisters’ store, closed for two weeks, orders skyrocketed. In eight days they prepared 500 empanadas, an average of 62 a day when before they did not sell more than 10.

Many buy them from other cities or abroad and donate them to residents of the town who live in conditions of extreme poverty.

Among the beneficiaries are the seven children of Johana Corona, 30 years old, who lives in a ranch with a dirt floor.

“The situation is so bad that sometimes we don’t have salty (protein), cheese, or butter for the arepa (corn tortilla). I feel very grateful”he comments.

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