Her family members were abducted and she was threatened: A former Chavista judge denounces the regime's coercion to disqualify opposition leader María Corina Machado

A former justice of the Supreme Court of Justice under the Chavista regime revealed this week that she was threatened and that several of her relatives were kidnapped to force her to sign the disqualification order that prevented opposition leader María Corina Machado from participating in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election.

According to a video she posted herself on YouTube, Judge Bárbara César Siero approved Machado's disqualification after the opposition leader filed a petition on December 15, 2023, with the Supreme Court of Justice to lift the sanction that the Chavista regime had imposed on her years earlier.

That same day, three of César Siero's relatives were abducted by the Chavista regime. The three, all military personnel, were detained by the regime's General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence.

"What my family and I have endured clearly demonstrates how the regime used arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, torture, and cruel and inhuman treatment against my brothers and my sister-in-law as a despicable tool of coercion and political blackmail," she said.

Bárbara César Siero was appointed chief justice of the Chavista Supreme Court of Justice in December 2014. In April 2022, she was confirmed in that position and also served as vice president of the Court's Political-Administrative Chamber.

According to her account, on December 22, 2023—a few days after Machado's request—the assistant to the president of the TSJ Chamber presented César Siero with the documents, already drafted, regarding Machado's disqualification for her to sign.

"With my brothers and sister-in-law missing, fearing for their lives, those of my other relatives, and my own, I proceeded to sign," she said.

Bárbara César Siro not only disqualified Machado but also other opposition leaders. Although she complied with the orders, her family members remained kidnapped. According to her, the regime used her case—particularly under the authority of then-Attorney General Tarek William Saab—to send an intimidating message to other magistrates, judges, or military officials.

She remained in office until January 2024, when, following pressure from within the Supreme Court of Justice itself, she resigned. From that moment on, César Siero faced persecution and harassment by the regime led by Nicolás Maduro.

After Bárbara César Siero posted the video, the legal team of opposition leader María Corina Machado held a press conference in which they demanded an independent investigation into the political disqualification.

"The decision disqualifying her was flawed in its consent... It is null and void," said attorney Omar Mora Tosta, a member of Machado's legal team.