MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – South Florida leaders and residents continued their demand for change at a press conference Tuesday after questioning the legitimacy of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s purported re-election.
Several leaders from the Venezuelan exile community in South Florida called for decisive action against Maduro’s regime and urged not only the U.S. government but also Venezuelans in the country to continue protesting.
A press conference held by the Independent Venezuelan American Citizens organization, at the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance’s local headquarters, saw prominent attendees, including Congressman Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.
Gimenez said he had sent a letter to President Joe Biden early Tuesday morning, urging the implementation of the “toughest sanctions possible” against the Maduro regime.
In Venezuela, protests have erupted in response to the election results, with many believing the results are fraudulent.
Sunday’s results declared Maduro the winner of the Venezuelan presidential election with 51% of the votes, but the opposition claims Edmundo Gonzalez was the true victor with 70%.
The office of North Macedonia’s Digital Society Minister Stefan Andonovski told Local 10′s Christina Vazquez the “authoritarian regime” of Venezuela has not provided them proof to support its accusation several opposition leaders “hacked” election data from their country.
“We’re closely following the process,” Andonovski said. “The minister has emphasized that the accusations are coming from a socialist regime that has, for years, disseminated information often unsupported by evidence, frequently blaming various parties and bear no responsibility for such incidents.”
“The accusations are coming from a socialist regime that has, for years, disseminated information often unsupported by evidence, frequently blaming various parties and bearing no responsibility for such incidents,”Andonovski added.
Venezuelan opposition leader Lester Toledo responded to the accusations, saying, “We deny those false accusations. We say to Venezuela, continue on the streets in a peaceful way. We are going to get a change soon.”
During a press conference, Toledo displayed voting tally sheets, which the opposition coalition claims as evidence that Maduro lost Sunday’s election by a significant margin to challenger Gonzalez.
“Where is that data coming from if the country has not released the full results?” Vazquez asked Toledo.
“The data comes from witnesses at all electoral centers from last Sunday. These witnesses have a right to get a copy of the election results. They are taking those results and putting them on a web page, so now it is public. Everyone can search that web page and confirm that the data they saw last Sunday is the real data that shows Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was elected,” said Toledo.
In a post on X, Maria Corina Machado, a disqualified opposition candidate who supported Gonzalez, posted a link to the website with the results.
“Venezuelans, through this link you can see how with your vote and your will, you changed the history of Venezuela. Here you will find the minutes that we have processed and totaled up to this point, confirming our extraordinary triumph,” Machado wrote.
Gonzalez also urged security forces to allow for peaceful protests in another post on X Tuesday.
Gonzalez also urged security forces to allow peaceful protests, stating, “You know what happened on Sunday. Venezuelans want peace and respect for the will of the people.”
Toledo called on the international community for support, saying, “It is very important the position of the United States, but also Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, all the Democratic countries. Besides ideology, whether you are right or left, that is not the discussion. [Maduro] is trying to make a coup, and we are obviously waiting for the support of the U.S. and all nations in the world that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was elected last Sunday.”
During Tuesday’s press conference, Ernesto Ackerman, president of Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, encouraged ongoing protests and a nationwide strike, aiming to “stop everything in the country.” He argued that increasing pressure could force Maduro to step down in the coming days or weeks.
“Maduro is stumbling and I think this will be the end. It’s the moment for Venezuelans to do a national strike and stop everything in Venezuela,“ said Ackerman. “All the unions must get together and stop the whole country because this government is really stumbling, and I think it’s a matter of hours, maybe days, for them to leave the country.”
Ackerman believes that Maduro will be forced to leave office if pressure continues to build from both within Venezuela and from the U.S. government and the Biden administration.
He also stated that exit polling from Venezuelan precincts indicates the country should have a new president and urged union leaders in other countries with dictatorial regimes, such as Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia, to go on strike as well.
Opposition leaders urge Venezuelans to remain courageous in their fight for democracy.
“The people who voted in Venezuela last Sunday were very brave. They did the lines the whole day in the electoral centers. They make a vote for the opposition. Now, my message is to continue to be brave and do the same thing that you did last Sunday..be brave,” said Toledo.
“It is no surprise Maduro wanted to steal this election,” said Democratic U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz Tuesday, who added she strongly “endorsed demands from the Biden-Harris White House for transparent, independently certified results to be released.”
She also added that this is only the beginning of what will be a “complex process to negotiate a democratic transition of power.”
Back in 2023, Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Venezuela Democracy Caucus, and co-lead Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), introduced the bipartisan Venezuelans Overcoming Interference and Corruption in Elections Act, or VOICE Act “to up the pressure on Maduro to honor the will of the voters.” The legislation imposed sanctions. “This attempt to steal Venezuela’s future must be condemned loudly and met with forceful consequences.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken a letter on Monday with an “urgent plea” to “swiftly implement the most aggressive sanctions possible against key figures and institutions within the Maduro regime responsible for these democratic violations” to include targeting “their financial assets, travel capabilities, and other resources” to send an “unwavering message that the international community will not stand idly by while democratic norms are trampled.”
As Local 10 news reported on Monday, also calling for robust sanctions are Congressional Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar and Gimenez who in a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris requested the administration “swiftly impose sweeping, robust sanctions on the regime as well as targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for subverting Venezuela’s once democratic system.”
Local 10 News has obtained Levine Cava’s letter to Blinken, which you can read below.