Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado launched a strong message this Saturday, November 15, directed at Venezuelans and especially at the state security forces, whom she asked to “lay down their weapons” and stop obeying orders that she described as “infamous” .

What is striking about this message from Machado is that it was only recorded in audio and not with a traditional video.

In a speech broadcast through his social media, she stated that the country is experiencing a defining moment and that “the decisive hour is imminent.”

Machado asserted that “thirty million” citizens are rebelling against “a criminal regime that is on its way out,” which she accused of holding both political prisoners and the entire country “hostage.”

“They have separated us from our families, they are suffocating us, they are intentionally starving our people to death,” she denounced.

The opposition leader argued that even those who carry out the state’s repressive actions are trapped by guilt. “The worst hostages are those forced to commit this barbarity,” she stated. “They feel guilty; they can’t look their children or their mothers in the eye.”

Machado referenced the testimony of Lewis Mendoza’s daughter, detained in Trujillo state, as a symbol of the suffering she said the country is enduring. “This girl’s tears are the tears of all Venezuela, of your own children,” she said, addressing military personnel and officials. “Those cries of pain will never leave you.”

In a direct appeal, she called on law enforcement to abandon their allegiance to the government. “Lay down your weapons. Do not attack your people. Make the decision today to stand with Venezuela’s freedom when the time is right.”

She also emphasized that every decision will have historical consequences. “The position each person takes will mark their life forever. History, the law, and the Venezuelan people will be their judges,” she warned.

Machado affirmed that political change in Venezuela is already underway. “What is going to happen is already happening,” she stated. Finally, she encouraged officials to become protagonists of the country’s future: “Be a hero, not a criminal. Be a source of pride, not a disgrace, to your family. Be part of Venezuela’s bright future, not part of the ruin that tyranny has created.”