ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Venezuela's autocratic leader is facing the greatest challenge to his 12-year rule as voters head to the polls this weekend. The person mounting that movement is a 56-year-old woman who's not even on the ballot. Yet she has united the opposition and is energizing the nation, as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: It's pitch dark as Maria Corina Machado emerges on a quiet Caracas cul-de-sac. She's greeted by young staff members ready to head out for a 10-hour trip to western Venezuela.
Wow.
MARIA CORINA MACHADO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: How are you feeling today?
MACHADO: Fine, fine. We're excited.
KAHN: Airlines won't sell her a ticket. The government frequently closes gas stations along her routes and has even jailed those providing food or lodging to her campaign.
MACHADO: Actually, that gave us a great opportunity to meet people who haven't, you know, meet elsewhere, you know? It's now a dynamic that we truly enjoy. I hope you do, too. Let's go. OK.
KAHN: It's 4:15 in the morning, and we are now in the caravan, trying to keep up as she travels 10 hours to her next campaign stop.
Machado may be drawing the crowds, but she's not the opposition's official candidate. Despite overwhelmingly winning a primary vote, Venezuela's highest court packed with loyalists to President Nicolas Maduro barred her from the race. A little-known 74-year-old former diplomat, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, took her place. The two have energized the race like none in recent memory, says John Magdalena (ph), a Caracas-based political analyst.
JOHN MAGDALENO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "This is a different election. There's an overwhelming demand for change now," he says.
Under Maduro, Venezuela's economy tanked. Gasoline and electricity shortages persist, and, in one of the largest migrations in the world today, nearly a quarter of Venezuelans have fled the country. Maduro blames the chaos on harsh U.S. sanctions leveled by former President Trump. But Phil Gunson of the International Crisis group says, paradoxically, those sanctions emboldened him.
PHIL GUNSON: Instead of producing the collapse of the Maduro government, it produced the collapse of the opposition leadership.
KAHN: And it's taken years and Machado's skill to corral Venezuela's fractious opposition.
(CROSSTALK)
KAHN: At a stop halfway in the trek in a quiet neighborhood in Barquisimeto, Machado thanks supporters here. Her staff refills the cars with gas they carried, grab a quick coffee and a bathroom break. I hop into the back of her car, where she told me this campaign has changed her. She addresses crowds wearing white and a large wooden cross around her neck.
MACHADO: We are hours away from a day that we've been fighting for for 25 years. This has been an epic journey. I mean, for Venezuelans, this has turned into an existential fight and a spiritual fight as well.
KAHN: Luring back the 8 million Venezuelans who have migrated has become a central theme of her campaign, as well as improving the economy. Yet she offers few specifics on how to do that.
MACHADO: We have to defeat the tyranny, and we have to build a country around trust in each other and dignity. And it will come back.
KAHN: She's also short on details about a post-electoral response if polls are correct and the opposition sweeps the race.
MACHADO: We have to count the votes. That's our goal. That's our challenge.
KAHN: Many supporters say they're ready to take to the streets if there is fraud this Sunday.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN HONKING)
KAHN: Neighbors wave goodbye as the caravan takes off. They say they've been under surveillance for days. Maria, fearful to give her full name, says she's eternally thankful to Machado.
MARIA: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "She's given us back faith and hope," she says.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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