A tribute to the "little flower" María Corina Machado to counterprogram the Barcelona 'party'

MadridA poorly informed pedestrian 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 flooding the square, and the festive atmosphere surrounding the event could lead one to suspect so. But no. "It's living what we always wanted there, freedom," summarizes Francisco, who has lived in Madrid for eight years and presents María Corina Machado as a "bulwark of the fight for freedom." For Clara, who has also been in Spain for eight years, she is the "great hope for achieving a democratic country forever." They are two of the thousands of Venezuelans who are waiting for the leader of the Venezuelan opposition on the day she has been honored by Isabel Díaz Ayuso with the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid. "She is our future president, the one who has freed us and who has taken away the dictator," thanks her 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 succeed," admits Frai, who has lived in Valencia for three years.

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

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

However, the climax arrived shortly after, when María Corina Machado went out into the square – to 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 for this moment for five hours. "We have to make it easier for them to get closer," urge those from the organization. And the madness was consummated.

The cloud of raised mobile phones looking for the gap to photograph her and the crowd of agents surrounding her indicate where the protagonist is at all times. After her passing, some celebrate the photo or physical contact with her as if it were a goal, and others cry for not having been able to see her as close as they would have liked. Security personnel are running back and forth, and medical personnel are multiplying 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 her 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," called for elections, and indirectly 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 was giving her 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.