Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Friday urged the international community to heap more pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government to allow her coalition’s chosen candidate to take part in July elections.

The 56-year-old politician thanked countries like Colombia and Brazil — traditional allies of Caracas — which joined the United States and France in expressing their alarm over the exclusion of candidate Corina Yoris.

“They reaffirm that our struggle is fair and democratic,” Machado wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“I call on the democratic leaders of the world to join the efforts of presidents and governments in demanding that the Maduro regime allow the registration of Corina Yoris as a candidate in the presidential elections.”

Machado’s Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) was earlier this week forced to register an unknown candidate after being unable to sign up Yoris, 80, to face off against Maduro, who is seeking a third term in office.
Yoris was already the embattled opposition’s Plan B.