Venezuela: Maduro’s opponent supports Brazil in football – 03/30/2024 – World

His house in Caracas is full of handicrafts bought in Brazil to decorate the spaces. His deceased pet cat was called Pelé. At the football world cups, given his country’s limited presence, his fans go to Brazil without hesitation.

Venezuelan Corina Yoris, 80, has a long-standing relationship with the country, built after numerous visits to university events in cities such as Salvador, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Until recently a name not so well-known outside academic halls, she is now at the center of Caracas’ political debate.

Yoris was chosen by former deputy María Corina Machado, winner of the opposition primaries who was electorally disqualified, and endorsed by the opposition coalition to run for President.

She was unable to register her name, however, and hopes to do so by the 20th, the deadline for changing the candidates’ names — at least provisionally, her strength is being represented by former diplomat Edmundo González.

A question about what references to Brazil the university professor has, who has a master’s degree in Latin American literature from the Simón Bolívar University, in Caracas, unfolds into several comments about her references and adoration for Brazil.

“It really is a country that enchants me and catches my attention. I had a cat that died a few years ago and to which I named Pelé, because my admiration for him was great. And I don’t feel distant from Brazil, not even because of the language , because there is ‘portunhol’.”

Still, he needs a more accurate knowledge of the language to read the Brazilian writer he most admires: Jorge Amado (1912-2001), author of works such as “Capitães da Areia”, “Gabriela, Cravo e Canela” and “Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.”

“I visited his museum in Salvador [a Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado]but I feel like I don’t understand the language in its entirety to take advantage of such richness”, she says.

Recently elected to a place at the Venezuelan Language Academy, Yoris is making her debut in institutional politics. In 1998, the year in which Hugo Chávez was consecrated at the polls and began an era that, from his successor, Nicolás Maduro, unfolded into an authoritarian regime, she participated in an election observation project.

Because he is not a Chavista, he says he faced dismissive comments from many at the time. Since then, she has written for newspapers, taught at Venezuelan and international universities and, finally, joined the committee that organized the opposition primaries in 2022.

Achieving the feat of being one of the main names opposing 80 has made her listen to comments that she classifies as ageism.

“There is an anecdote from Clint Eastwood that I will appropriate. He is 93 years old and is directing a film that requires enormous effort. A journalist asked him where he got so much energy from and he replied: I don’t let the old man in my house .”