Venezuelan opposition leader faces deadline for standing down in race against Maduro

It’s her choice — but one on which the hopes of millions of Venezuelans fighting to restore their democracy depends. Barred from running for office, opposition leader María Corina Machado is facing pressure from foreign leaders and fellow government opponents to abandon her dead-end presidential candidacy ahead of a March 25 candidate registration deadline and make space for a substitute to take on the entrenched incumbent, Nicolás Maduro. It's an impossible choice that underlines Venezuela’s increasingly authoritarian tilt.