Protests against electoral fraud broke out in cities around the world
The big surprise at the meeting in Caracas was the reappearance of opposition leader María Corina Machado in front of thousands of supporters.
By Confidencial
HAVANA TIMES – Thousands of Venezuelans protested on Saturday, August 17, 2024, in the world’s main capitals and cities, demonstrating their strength and unity against the “electoral fraud” committed by the government of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential elections of July 28. They demand that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia be recognized as the elected president and winner of these elections.
In Caracas, the epicenter of the global appeal by Venezuela’s largest opposition coalition, the big surprise was the reappearance of opposition leader María Corina Machado in front of thousands of supporters.
After two weeks in hiding and fearing for her “freedom and life,” Machado appeared on the popular campaign truck and was cheered by thousands of demonstrators who had heeded her call to continue peaceful protests. She was accompanied by several opposition leaders, including Delsa Solorzano, Biagio Pilieri and Cesar Perez Vivas.
The opposition leader said that with the candidacy of Edmundo González, who won a landslide victory in the presidential elections, their movement had achieved “the greatest civic achievement in the history of the country.”
“They thought that by tracking our electoral witnesses we would not get our copies of the ballots, but within 24 hours we had digitized them,” Machado told thousands of opposition supporters mobilized to defend the “truth.”
In her speech ending the protest, Machado announced a “fifth phase” of the struggle, which would consist of “claiming” Edmundo González’s victory and ensuring that “every voice is respected.”
“There is nothing above the sovereign voice, and the sovereign voice has spoken in Venezuela. The world and everyone in Venezuela must recognize that the elected president is Edmundo González,” she said.
15,000 Venezuelans protested in Spain
The largest demonstration outside Venezuela’s borders took place in Madrid. Almost 15,000 people filled the symbolic Puerta del Sol and chanted “Freedom” and “Maduro out”.
Exiled Venezuelan politicians such as Leopoldo Lopez and former Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma took part in the protest.
In London, between 450 and 600 Venezuelans gathered outside the doors of the Venezuelan embassy in the British capital’s Chelsea district, shouting: “We want freedom for Venezuela, and we want it now” and “Edmundo is the president.”
The protesters held up copies of the electoral documents presented by the Venezuelan opposition, which showed that Edmundo González won with 67% of the votes cast – more than 7.3 million – while Nicolás Maduro won with 30% and 3.3 million votes, contradicting the official version.
In addition to London, protests for Venezuelan freedom took place in other British cities, including Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Bournemouth and Bristol, encouraged by protests by opposition leaders around the world.
The United Kingdom joined 20 other countries and the European Union on Friday in calling for the “immediate publication of all original records of the election results” and an “impartial and independent” review of the election results in Venezuela, in which the National Electoral Council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.
In Brussels, around 250 people demonstrated in the city center. “This government keeps us in poverty and hardly allows us any freedom of expression. If we had been there, we would probably be in prison too. We cannot say that we have a different opinion,” said Wilmer Veliz, a Venezuelan who has been living in Belgium for eight months.
Meanwhile, according to the Dutch agency ANP, dozens of Venezuelans living in the Netherlands gathered in front of Amsterdam Central Station to denounce electoral fraud in their country.
According to local media, protesters carried Venezuelan flags and signs reading “Free Venezuela” and “Freedom for all political prisoners.”
In Paris, Venezuelans gathered in the Place de la Bastille in persistent rain. Other protests were also organized in a dozen other French cities, including Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux, Bayonne, La Rochelle and Le Havre.
Protesters in Paris chanted various slogans in Spanish, including “No to fraud!”, “No to repression!”, “Edmundo, president!” and “Maduro must go!”.
Protests in America
In Colombia, the country where most Venezuelans live abroad, hundreds of people gathered in the city’s main squares, chanting “Edmundo is the president” and holding signs reading “Freedom for Venezuela” and “Maduro out.” The rallies united Colombians and Venezuelans hoping to return to their homeland.
Around 150 people gathered in São Paulo, Brazil. “Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!” chanted the demonstrators in front of the statue of Francisco de Miranda, a hero of Venezuelan independence, on the famous Avenida Paulista, the main street of South America’s largest city.
In Montevideo, Uruguay, Venezuelans gathered in the central Plaza Independencia in the Uruguayan capital, chanting slogans such as “Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!” and “We have won and we will take it,” along with insults against Maduro.
In Mexico City, over a thousand Venezuelans gathered at the Revolution Monument. The demonstrators called on President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to abandon his alleged neutrality.
“The attitude of the Mexican president is as if he wants to avoid expressing an opinion that could later lead to a commitment; we do not know his reasons,” said Venezuelan dentist and university professor Juan Carlos Vielma.
In Canada, protest marches took place in 14 cities across the country, including Ottawa, London, Kingston, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Quebec.
Originally published in Spanish by Confidential and translated and published in English by Havana Times.
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