A tribute to the "little flower" María Corina Machado to counterprogram the revelry of Barcelona

MadridA poorly informed passerby wondered at five in the afternoon if the hundreds of Venezuelans gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were celebrating a football triumph. Seeing children with Venezuela's colors painted on their faces, the sea of flags that flooded the square, and the festive atmosphere that hovered over the event could have suggested it. But no. "It's living what we always wanted there, freedom," summarizes Francisco, who has been living in Madrid for eight years and introduces María Corina Machado as a "bulwark of the fight for freedom." For Clara, who has also been in Spain for eight years, it is "the great hope for achieving a democratic country forever." They are two of the thousands of Venezuelans waiting for the leader of the Venezuelan opposition on the day she has been distinguished by Isabel Díaz Ayuso with the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid. "She is our future president, the one who has liberated us and the one who has taken away the dictator," thanks Mariel, who left Venezuela 26 years ago and now lives in Seville. "Donald Trump is not the ideal president, but he has given us the encouragement and hope that we can indeed get out of this," acknowledges Frai, who has been living in Valencia for three years.

All this happens in the Puerta del Sol minutes before, inside the headquarters of the presidency of the Community of Madrid, effusive hugs were the protagonists of the event promoted by Isabel Díaz Ayuso to honor the Venezuelan opposition leader. Both arrive amidst applause sponsored by technical staff. María Corina Machado wears a red dress – which is Ayuso’s property – and, while the decree granting her the Gold Medal is read, the Madrid president looks at her sideways with pride, like a mother watching her daughter graduate. "Your name has been mentioned here so much that we still find it hard to believe you are here," confesses Ayuso, who summarizes María Corina Machado's emergence as a leader thus: "A bright little flower appeared in the midst of darkness." And, of course, she could not avoid mocking the progressive summit that was held in Barcelona, which she calls a "party".

One of the craziest moments was when Isabel Díaz Ayuso and María Corina Machado –who presented her as a "great friend"– came out onto the balcony of the Puerta del Sol to greet all the people waiting for them. The Venezuelan leader was received with the typical honors –if the hypothesis of the uninformed passerby at five in the afternoon were to be believed– of a Real Madrid star who has just won the Champions League. And euphoria erupted with the Venezuelan leader: "Today the return home begins," she proclaimed.

However, the climax arrived shortly after, when María Corina Machado came out into the square –at street level– to receive the warmth of the people. And the headaches for the security and protocol teams reached their maximum expression. "The press will see her and we won't," complains a lady in the front row. Some have been waiting five hours for this moment. "We have to facilitate them being able to get closer," they urged from the organization. And the madness was consummated.

The cloud of raised cell phones searching for the opening to photograph her and the crowd of agents surrounding her indicate where the protagonist is at any given moment. After her passage, some celebrate the photo or physical contact with her as if it were a goal, while others cry for not having been able to see her up close as they would have wished. Security personnel rush back and forth, and medical staff multiply to attend to people who have fainted from the heat. To avoid the football metaphor, it is a scene comparable to the mass gatherings of the Pope or the Three Wise Men of the East.

After a while of greeting as much as she could, María Corina Machado, who started the afternoon with a medal on her chest and ended it with a neck full of rosaries, took the stage. She recalled that she took an Uber for the first time four months ago, thanked Donald Trump for his "fundamental support," demanded elections, and subtly criticized Pedro Sánchez's position. For her, it is a day she will remember "all her life." For Ayuso, it has been the "happiest day" since she became president. The Madrid leader, however, was not there while the Venezuelan delivered the speech on stage. She was on her way to Seville to watch the Copa del Rey final between Atlético and Real Sociedad with the ambition that in a few hours, this time for sure, the streets of Madrid would celebrate a football success.