MIAMI – Tensions were high in Venezuela early Monday morning after officials loyal to Nicolás Maduro announced he won Sunday’s presidential election. It was a sleepless night for the diaspora in South Florida.
In Miami-Dade, patriotic expats hoping for the end of a quarter-century of socialist rule met at Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater, outside the consulate in Brickell, and Jose Marti Park in Little Havana.
The exiled opposition blames Maduro and his administration for failing economic policies; prevailing corruption; asymmetric alliances with Cuba, Russia, and China; media oppression; and political repression.
Their common chant against Maduro’s third term: “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
ESPAÑOL: La información más reciente sobre la elección presidencial en Venezuela
Maduro’s loyalists announced about 80% of the ballot boxes had been counted and Maduro had won 51.2% of the votes. There were outcries of fraud. The opposition reported Maduro’s rival Edmundo González was the election’s true victor with about 70% of the votes.
“The dictatorship lies blatantly and decides to entrench itself further,” Juan Guaido, recognized by the opposition as the former acting president of Venezuela, wrote in Spanish on X.
The ruling party — campaigning with triumphal rallies for Maduro to stay in power for six more years — controlled most of the electoral process. Officials announced polls were open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., on the day Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor, was born.
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek Saab, a loyalist who issued an arrest warrant for Guaido, told Reuters that he expected the election results to be released on Sunday night. Maduro later claimed a hack delayed the process.
The opposition living in South Florida blames the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, for creating the desperation in the oil-rich country that has forced more than 7.7 million to emigrate.
The head of Maduro’s campaign, Jorge Rodríguez, the deputy of the National Assembly known as the “cold psychiatrist,” told reporters Sunday night that he was certain “violence failed, hatred failed; love won, independence won, Venezuelan sovereignty won and peace won.”
Carmela Rincon, a Venezuelan American in Miami, said she had big hopes that a political change would allow her family living in the United States to travel to visit family in Venezuela without fear.
“At least be able, to go and spend Christmas with our family,” Rincon said during an opposition rally at Jose Marti Park in Miami’s Little Havana.
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Nicolás Pernía said he left Venezuela for Miami about three years ago. It hasn’t been easy. He misses his family, so a victory would have meant moving back home.
“I have lived most of my life in Venezuela,” Pernía said in Spanish. He too couldn’t vote.
The opposition demanded the ability to double-check the results before the announcement by the National Electoral Council, or CNE, which Elvis Amoroso leads — even after helping ban Guaido, Leopoldo Lopez, and Henrique Capriles from running for office.
Jesus Torin, a Venezuelan who calls South Florida home, also couldn’t vote. He was among the opposition’s supporters who had hoped for a landslide victory so big that not even the CNE could ignore it.
“That’s our actual hope; that they admit that this is what it actually is,” Torin said.
Casting a ballot wasn’t easy. The Washington Post described the voting registration process for the Venezuelan diaspora as a “mind-bending odyssey.” Karina Morales, a Venezuelan in Miami, agreed.
“That’s a crime because those of us who had to leave, those of us who had to learn how to park cars, and clean because we don’t speak English ... we should have been allowed to vote,” Morales said on Sunday.
Chávez, a military strongman with promises of populist reform, was in power for about 14 years, and after dying of cancer in 2013, left his failing revolution to Maduro, a former bus driver for the Caracas Metro company turned unionist.
The opposition has reported how Maduro’s administration turned rivals into political prisoners and how his supporters engaged in political violence.
Despite it all, Amelia Perez was fearless in Caracas.
“I’m doing this for my kids and for my grandchildren; I want them to come back, the ones who are living abroad,” Perez said.
Attorney Maureen L. Porras, a Nicaraguan-American Doral councilwoman, stood by her colleague Rafael Pineyro to support those who couldn’t participate in the electoral process.
Pineyro, 40, who moved from Caracas to Miami when he was 15, was elected to serve as a Doral councilman in 2022. They were hopeful outside the Venezuelan consulate in Miami.
Janeth Rodriguez said she attended the demonstration outside the consulate because she hoped the opposition would prevail. She wore a yellow T-shirt and used a Venezuelan flag as a cape.
“I have faith, maybe a miracle can occur today,” Rodriguez said.
The opposition has also accused the ruling party of failing to deliver the social justice Chavez promised while vilifying entrepreneurs as the corrupt elite.
In Miami, Noleida Rodríguez was among the Venezuelans who believed the prevailing economic collapse had changed the minds of those who had supported Chavez and Maduro.
“People have already woken up, there is no longer fear. Before there was fear, there is no longer fear. The people are rebelling,” Rodríguez said in Spanish.
Luisa Gonzalez told Reuters on Sunday in Bolivar, a socialist stronghold, that she works as a housekeeper and doesn’t earn enough to care for her four grandchildren, so although she had voted red before — she had decided not to this time.
“We have spent years looking for change, I was a Chavista, but people have changed,” Gonzalez, 61, said.
During a rally, Maduro warned of a “bloodbath” if he lost. Many defied the fear-mongering.
Angel Yáñez, a government employee, told The Associated Press that if the opposition didn’t win he was going to be jobless for voting against Maduro. His sister was preparing to move to Europe.
The opposition also believes corruption was behind Maduro’s reelection in 2018, and the U.S. and a group of allies declared it illegitimate.
Some had expected the same outcome this year from the ruling party obsessed with controlling every branch of government — especially the Venezuelan military.
González, a retired diplomat and academic, was the opposition’s candidate.
González stepped up as the leader of the resistance after Maduro’s supporters in the Supreme Court invalidated Maria Corina Machado’s candidacy and banned her from running for office for 15 years.
Machado, 56, a mother of three, campaigned for González, 74, a political newcomer. Their rallies across Venezuela always included the same — “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” — chant.
Phil Gunson, of the International Crisis Group, told The New York Times that the irregularities reported were “within the normal range” for Venezuela.
In Miami, watch parties were going well into late Sunday night. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez attended one of them.
“There are millions and millions of people in Venezuela and here 4 million Venezuelans in exile who want to see a watershed moment, who want to see a transition to liberty and a democratic and not autocratic government,” said Suarez, 46, a Cuban American who has only known Cuba as a Communist island.
Hours later, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raul Castro’s successor, congratulated Maduro for staying in power.
“Today the dignity and courage of the Venezuelan people triumphed over pressure and manipulation,” Díaz-Canel wrote on X.
Maduro celebrated with a display of drones lighting up the sky with an image of his face, a rally with loud music, and sunglasses.
Venezuela’s opposition reported exit polls and data collected independently contradicted the CNE announcement. The exit poll by Edison Research concluded González won 65% of the votes while Maduro only had 31%.
Machado released a “message for the military” on X: “The people of Venezuela have spoken: they don’t want Maduro. It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history. You have a chance and it’s now.”
During a news conference later, Machado said González was Venezuela’s new president-elect.
“Our struggle continues and we will not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected,” González said.
Opposition leaders in the diaspora protested on social media.
Lopez, 53, reported on X that González and Machado had received death threats. Guaido, 41, believed there was electoral fraud again.
“González defeated Maduro in an already flawed process,” Guaido wrote. “We Venezuelans will defend our will. Leadership and the world are tested once again.”