Blacklisted, Maduro's top rival can't be held down

Machado has united fractured opposition, energized citizens

- ANDREINA ITRIAGO ACOSTA

Despite Nicolás Maduro's best efforts, María Corina Machado is everywhere.

The Venezuelan opposition leader, who won't appear on the presidential ballot later this month, has sent the ruling party scurrying to stop the fervour behind her. She's united a long-fractured opposition coalition that once ostracized her. But most of all, she's built a powerful, energized citizen movement that, according to some long-time observers, is unlike any seen here since the late Hugo Chavez-President Maduro's mentor and idol rose from obscurity to unseat the political establishment in the 1990s.

"She is coming! She is coming María is coming".

People shout the message from block to block, as her caravan slowly makes its way down a mountain toward the centre of San Cristobal, in the same border state that was the cradle of anti-government protests in 2014. People on either side can be seen cheering and crying. The number of spectators is even larger than it appears, with many attending via video call as relatives in the swarming crowd dial them in to catch a glimpse of Machado. There are no bodyguards to shield her, so the multitude freely passes her letters, flowers, rosaries, food, paintings and religious figures. Some reach out just to touch her.

"This is prophetic," Rubén Yuncoza said from the crowd. "She is anointed by God."