During an election campaign that brought out crowds in every corner of the South American country, the Venezuelan opposition has succeeded in awakening hope in a population that has been battered and demobilized over the past decade. Machado has spent months touring the interior of the country in search of translating people’s enthusiasm into votes.
For the first time in 11 years, Venezuela will hold elections in which the ruling party will be challenged by an opposition candidate who has a real chance of winning. Polls show González Urrutia more than twenty points ahead of Nicolás Maduro and, for the first time, electoral observers from the Carter Center and the United Nations (UN) have been invited to oversee an electoral process.
Among the more than seven million Venezuelans who were forced to leave their nation in search of a better future and quality of life due to the economic and social crisis generated by 25 years of Chavismo, this movement represents an opportunity to return and reunite with their families in a free country.
“This election is one of the greatest opportunities we have had in many years. It means a light at the end of the tunnel that will illuminate the horizons of freedom starting July 28. It is the door handle to the border to return and be able to be responsible for the reconstruction of our country,” he said from his exile in Spain, THE AMERICAS DAILY, Antonio Ledezma, former mayor of Caracas and coordinator of the International Political Council of María Corina Machado.
“What the opposition, led by María Corina Machado, has achieved is an unstoppable tsunami that can be seen both in the polls and in the images of the streets, which have been packed and reflect the unstoppable triumph of the unity candidate Edmundo González,” he added.
National reunion
The Venezuelan politician said that the great promise of the opposition campaign is the national reunion. “So that the mother who has her son in Chile and tells María Corina that she wants him to return home, the grandmother wants her grandson who is in Spain to return home, can be reunited. That is a feeling that overwhelms many families who have not been able to hug their loved ones for many years.”
“For Venezuelans living in exile, it is a challenge to learn to live with the certainty of the indescribable pain between the chest and the back that comes with being away from one’s country,” said Ledezma.
He said that Venezuelans, both inside and outside the country, “have not stopped fighting. If our people have any merit, it is that of the coherence, the tenacity of a country that has not given up and has overcome adversity time and again.”
At the same time, Ledezma said that Venezuela had never experienced a wave of migration like the one in recent times. “Venezuelans were an open door to receive migrants and now we have become the largest diaspora in the world. Right now there are two Venezuelas, one that survives inside and the other that has had to seek a future outside,” he said.
Migrants with faith
Isamar Rojas, a 27-year-old Venezuelan who has lived in Spain for six years, has faith and hope that Venezuela will emerge from the dictatorship that destroyed her country and separated millions of families on July 28.
“What we are experiencing today has given us back our faith, our joy and our desire to continue supporting a prosperous Venezuela. Millions of young Venezuelans like me, who had to leave our country to seek a better future, hope that on July 28, in the name of God, we will be freed from the dictatorship,” he added.
That hope is shared by Nelfrailyn Reyes, who left Venezuela five years ago and is now in Peru. “As Venezuelans, even though we are in another country, we are very excited about the change that can be generated with the elections on July 28. Knowing that we can achieve a country where we can return and have a good quality of life and decent salaries gives us a lot of confidence,” she said.
Although he believes that the victory of the democratic alternative is possible, Reyes stressed that “it does not only depend on the results of the elections, but on the participation of citizens and the defense of the vote and working in unity.”
Frauds and obstacles
However, the experience for some Venezuelans abroad has not been easy, since the National Electoral Council (CNE), at the service of the regime, has imposed obstacles to the Electoral Registry (RE), making it almost impossible to register to vote in different countries around the world.
For these elections, in which candidate Nicolás Maduro seeks re-election for a third term, it is estimated that a total of 69,000 Venezuelans abroad will be able to exercise their right to vote on July 28. Of these, 508 registered in the RE as new voters and 6,020 changed their voting center during the special day held by the Electoral Power.
Between 3.5 and 5.5 million eligible Venezuelans live outside the country, out of a total electorate of 21 million Venezuelans.
Continued fraud
In response to this, Ledezma stated that the regime has been carrying out a “continuous fraud” by curtailing the right to vote of the Venezuelan diaspora. “This is nothing new, they have been doing it for some time with the disqualification of María Corina, the judicialization of political parties and other actions in order to stay in power.”
The opposition leader indicated that for those outside Venezuela this electoral situation also means a great spiritual and emotional storm. “However, many are determined to support this new wave of change that has been generated led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia.”
With just nine days to go before the elections, Ledezma called on Venezuelans both inside and outside the South American nation to “mobilize and vote on July 28, which is the only way to overcome all difficulties and achieve a democratic transition.”