Maria Corina Machadocoordinator of the Vente Venezuela party, denounced this Saturday the obstacles placed on the cardinal Baltazar Porraswho recently arrived in the country, to travel to Isnotú, where they would celebrate a mass of thanksgiving for the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández and Carmen Rendiles.
The winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize wrote a message on her official account on X in which she indicated: “Alert all Venezuelans and the world. In the last few hours, the repression of the Maduro regime has escalated, directly attacking our Cardinal Baltazar Porras.”
The opposition added: “Far from intimidating with this desperate violence against the Church, these actions only achieve greater unity and determination of the Venezuelan people.”
He also considered that the celebration of the canonization of the country’s first saints will not be stopped by violence or manipulation.
“Venezuelans unite in prayer in each community and parish, crying out for the peace of Venezuela, a peace that will come with our freedom,” said Machado.
Finally, the political leader noted: “We accompany our brave Cardinal Porras and pray for his safety and that of all the Venezuelan faithful.”
What happened to Cardinal Baltazar Porras and his trip to Isnotú?
In a video shared this Saturday, he indicated that on the night of October 24 he received a call from the vice minister of worship of the Episcopal Conference informing him about the “inconvenience” of his presence at the celebrations.
In addition, they told him that there was the possibility of disturbances in the town due to his presence.
The cardinal was informed of several problems in the airspace and had to return to Barquisimeto. At the city’s airport, he reported that there was a strong military presence.
“Given the refusal that the airport was not open, we wanted to hire a van to make the transfer by land, which was vetoed by the public force, the company to which the rental had been made. We were not allowed to leave the airport and we had to return in the middle of a military deployment”, he denounced.
“It is striking that this type of thing happens. That as a citizen one cannot move from one place to another and with a military deployment,” he indicated.
Porras was one of the main promoters of the cause of José Gregorio Hernández. However, his work has been devalued by the government of Nicolás Maduro, which he has frontally denounced.
