MIAMI – The Venezuelan flag and “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” chants took over Bayfront Park’s amphitheater on Saturday in Downtown Miami.
Protesters, mostly dressed in white, also sang “Glory to the Brave People,” or Gloria al Bravo Pueblo, Venezuela’s national anthem.
Juan Gonzalez, born in Caracas, lives in Boynton Beach. He wore his “I am from Venezuela; not from Minnesota” T-shirt to the protest.
“There is not much that we can do,” Gonzalez said about the sense of powerlessness some of the protesters feel while unable to vote or demonstrate against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
Some protesters wore Venezuelan National Teams’ Vinotinto soccer jerseys and blue and burgundy baseball hats. Some held up their U.S. flags. Babies in strollers, children, grandparents, and even pets joined.
There were speeches in solidarity with the opposition confronting Maduro and his ruling party after the July 28 presidential election, which they had hoped would end a quarter-century of socialist control.
Ronald Rivers said when he moved from the U.S. to Venezuela over four decades ago the oil-rich country was far from the economic collapse and refugee crisis that plagues it today.
Rivers, a Venezuelan American, still has family living in Venezuela, so he said he has been following Cuba’s “catastrophic” influence closely, and how the opposition brought hope after July 28.
“What María Corina [Machado] did was excellent. She got them where it hurts — with the truth,” Rivers said.
In Venezuela, the official results, recognized by Russia, reported 6.4 million voted for Maduro and 5.3 million voted for Edmundo González, the opposition candidate. Meanwhile, the opposition’s results, recognized by the United States, reported 6.89 million voted for González, who was Venezuela’s new president-elect since 3.13 million had voted for Maduro.
Machado was the leader behind the National Command, or the Comando Nacional de Campaña, a network of volunteers who collected tally sheets and evidence to check the official results. They published their poll-by-poll findings on a site, while Venezuela’s official electoral body did not claiming that “fascists” purposely hacked the system.
“Once those results are in digital manner no body can change that,” Rivers said about the opposition’s site on the July 28 election.
Members of Vente USA, an affiliate of Machado’s opposition political party Vente Venezuela, organized the event. This week, Maduro and his supporters referred to the party as a “terrorist organization” and Machado as a “terrorist.”
Dozens of protesters held up handmade signs, including one in Spanish saying “They are killing us in silence” and “SOS Venezuela,” a human rights movement calling for an international intervention.
On stage, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, both held up one Venezuelan flag together, in solidarity with their Venezuelan American constituents.
There were other protests in support of the opposition around the world. The United Nations estimates the Venezuelan diaspora at 7.7 million and growing.
PROTEST IN VENEZUELA
Despite Maduro’s threats, Machado stood before the protesters who took over an intersection under a highway on Saturday in Las Mercedes, Caracas — confronting fears after news of murders, beatings, arbitrary arrests, and tortures and interrogations.
From a high stage on a truck, Machado, a mother of three, stood before supporters on Saturday morning. Videos show she held up a microphone and shouted in Spanish, “You are the heroes of this story! Every Venezuelan who did not give up!” Machado later left on a motorcycle.
Edmundo González was not at the protest. His last public appearance was Tuesday. On Saturday, afternoon he wrote on X in Spanish: “Venezuelans clearly expressed their will on July 28 with our electoral victory. Today, united Venezuela came out, without fear, in peace and with family, to demand respect for its decision at the polls. We’ll ensure that your decision is respected and will begin Venezuela’s re-institutionalization.”
Machado’s update in Spanish on X, “After 6 days of brutal repression, they thought they were going to silence us, stop us or intimidate us.
“Look at the response.”
The political violence erupted on Monday and Tuesday and the raids and arbitrary arrests continued. Human rights activists have been tracking cases some involving armed pro-Maduro gangs.
Thousands continued the protest on Saturday afternoon at the Plaza Alfredo Sadel, in Las Mercedes, Caracas. Maduro and his supporters were also set to attend the “mother of all marches” Saturday in Caracas to celebrate his third six-year term.
Venezuelan attorneys with Foro Penal, a nongovernmental organization in Caracas, continued their work nationwide. While providing free legal representation, the human rights activists reported Saturday that starting Monday 939 were detained, including 90 teenagers; and 11 murders were under review.
PROVEA, or the Programa Venezolano de Educación Acción en Derecho Humanos, based in Caracas, reported Thursday there had been 19 murders related to political violence since Sunday night. The organization also issued a reminder on social media to protesters:
“You have the right to protest. You have the right to free movement. You have the right to defense. You have the right to due process. We cannot normalize the abuses of the State. Venezuela has international and national obligations to protect human rights and must comply with them.”
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