MIAMI.- Leaders and activists from the Venezuelan diaspora gathered in Doral on Sunday to warn of the possibility of fraud orchestrated by the regime of Nicolás Maduro and the National Electoral Council (CNE) of that country, in view of the presidential elections on July 28 in Venezuela.
During a commemoration ceremony for the 208th anniversary of the death of General Francisco de Miranda, precursor of Latin American independence, Venezuelan lawyer and politician Enrique Aristeguieta Gramcko said that “we have a very serious problem” because “Maduro manipulates the CNE at will.”
According to Aristeguieta Gramcko, a member of the Patriotic Junta that overthrew Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958, the Caracas dictatorship “plays democracy when it suits it,” and so she called for “not being so optimistic, but not pessimistic either.”
The jurist’s comments come just two weeks before the electoral process that will allow the election of a president in Venezuela, in which the dictator Maduro faces the opposition Edmundo González Urrutia, who has the support of María Corina Machado, a leader with broad popular support in that South American country.
Aristeguieta Gramcko said that, despite reports of possible electoral fraud, “it is forbidden to get tired” because, in her opinion, “the worst diligence is the one that is not done.” Even so, she urged Venezuelans to “be alert and prepared.”
For the past 25 years, Venezuela has been under the control of Chavismo. Maduro not only controls the CNE, the body in charge of elections, but also the legislative branch, the Army, the Police, the judicial system, as well as paramilitary groups that are in charge of mechanisms to repress dissent.
Retired Venezuelan General Carlos Peñaloza, former commander of the Venezuelan Army and a strong critic of the Chavista regime, said that with González Urrutia and Machado “a ray of hope was opened.”
However, he said, “fraud is something we expect” since, in his view, “it is difficult to believe that Maduro’s gang, with the support of the military high command, will give up power.”
Peñaloza reviewed the “attempts and efforts in vain” to try to get rid of the Venezuelan dictatorship. “Everything has been left as just attempts without a clear direction,” the military officer stressed.
Meanwhile, Jean Pierre Chovet, a human rights activist and oil expert, stressed the need for urgent change in Venezuela, which he believes could come as early as July 28.
“Venezuela and the Venezuelan people are crying out for political change because it is no longer possible for us to continue with the rottenness of the regime. Change will come on July 28,” he stressed.
For Pierre Chovet, the reconstruction of the country “can be done thanks to our natural resources and thus achieve a stable economy. The country has the structure to achieve this change.”
Luis González del Castillo, president of the Francisco de Miranda International Chair for Freedom Foundation, called on “all Venezuelans to join forces around our freedom and democracy, without hatred in our hearts, but with justice.”
Similarly, activists Adriana Vigilanza and Guillermo Salas agreed on the strategies that the dictatorship could use to win the presidential elections through vote counts that generate “serious suspicions” for them.