Venezuelan diaspora protests against Maduro’s disputed election | News | Al Jazeera
On the evening of July 28, 41-year-old Venezuelan political refugee Gabi Arellano watched the country’s presidential election unfold in Bogota, the capital of Colombia.
She expected the election results to usher in a new future for Venezuela. However, that hope turned to disappointment and frustration when Venezuela’s electoral body declared incumbent President Nicolas Maduro the winner.
The opposition has since accused Maduro’s government of stealing the election. Arellano has become one of the most prominent voices in the protest movement, which has spread beyond Venezuela’s borders, with citizens clamoring for transparent voting results.
There are nearly 8 million Venezuelans living abroad, accounting for more than a quarter of the country’s total population, and a large number of them support the country’s democratic movement.
Arellano, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has been a leader of these movements, joining thousands of migrants and refugees in calling on foreign governments to pressure Maduro to release the full results of the vote.
“Do not remain silent. Do not be an accomplice,” Arellano told a room full of Colombian senators during an Aug. 6 speech.
In the weeks since the presidential election, Venezuelan migrants and refugees have used their political acumen to lobby lawmakers and help shape foreign policy.
Humanitarian networks based abroad have been repurposed to mobilise for the protests. Social media platforms dominated by expatriates are sharing the latest news about the election.
Carolina Jimenez Sandoval, president of the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group, said that over the past year she has seen Venezuelans abroad form political organizations and consolidate their power like never before.
“In terms of the Venezuelan diaspora, we are seeing a stronger political voice,” Jiménez Sandoval explained.
“It’s not just because of their size, but also because of their visibility and political goals.”
Scrutiny of Maduro
A protester holds up a Venezuelan flag during a demonstration in Bogota, Colombia, on August 17. (Al Jazeera)International organizations have long accused Maduro’s government of suppressing political dissent through intimidation and violence, leading to the regression of democracy in Venezuela.
Critics say last month’s election was the latest example of his human rights abuses.
Maduro has been seeking a third term, but early polls suggest his rival, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, will win in a landslide.
Normally, the government releases the results of individual polling stations after a national election. However, on election night, the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote — and refused to release a breakdown of the vote.
The opposition responded by declaring González the winner and releasing what it claimed were vote results from individual polling stations as evidence.
The opposition released the results of the vote, saying they proved that Edmundo González had won the presidency[Al Jazeera]The disputed election sparked mass protests in Venezuela and a violent crackdown by the government.
According to Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights group, more than 1,500 people, including minors, have been arrested since July 22 on charges including terrorism.
Another independent monitoring initiative, Monitor De Víctimas, found that at least 23 people had been killed in anti-government protests.
“The Venezuelan cause defies the politics of the left and the right,” Arellano said in an appeal to Colombia’s legislature.
She called on senators to put pressure on the Maduro government to respect human rights and democracy. “This is our message to the Colombian Congress and to parliaments around the Western Hemisphere.”
Putting pressure on Venezuela’s neighbors
Venezuelan protesters post a giant voter tally sheet among the crowd as they march in Bogota on August 17 (Al Jazeera)By leveraging their political power, Venezuelan expatriates like Arellano hope to effect change in host countries in Latin America, where most of the expatriates reside.
The region’s heads of state are taking the lead in negotiations with Maduro’s government.
Maduro government allies Colombia and Brazil have taken the lead in trying to find a solution to the election dispute, stopping short of recognizing Maduro or Gonzalez as the winner of the election and calling on the government to release paper ballots.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro told El Mundo: “Whatever the will of the Venezuelan people, Colombia will respect it. This is a delicate moment and all parties must be ready to deal with this peacefully.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro shakes hands with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Colombian President Gustavo Petro shakes hands with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, April 9 (Reuters)As mediators, the two leaders also proposed their own solutions to address the concerns of both sides.
For example, on August 15, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva proposed new elections in Venezuela.
On the same day, President Petro Petro floated the idea of a rotation in power between the Maduro government and the opposition.
But both ideas were quickly rejected by members of the opposition inside and outside Venezuela.
The two countries also responded with a joint statement last week after Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of Maduro’s victory claim without providing supporting evidence.
Colombia and Brazil renewed calls on Maduro’s government to release the results of the vote – but they also demanded an end to international sanctions on Venezuela, which are a source of stress on its fragile economy.
Meanwhile, the governments of Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay and Panama have recognized González as Venezuela’s newly elected president, a stance that diaspora advocates hope more world leaders will take before his inauguration in January.
In legislatures in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and other Latin American countries, Venezuelan activists, many of them political leaders in exile, have also sat down with their fellow lawmakers in hopes of shaping policy.
“If we are democrats, then democracy must transcend our political alliances and ideological visions,” said William Clavija, a 34-year-old immigrant who is president of Venezuela Global, a Brazil-based humanitarian organization that has advocated for election transparency.
Personal Mission
On August 17, Venezuelans gathered in Bogota, Colombia, calling on the government to recognize Edmundo González as the legitimate winner of the presidential election. (Al Jazeera)Gabriel Hernandez, a 42-year-old refugee who fled to Mexico City in 2018, said the recent election cycle had brought Venezuelans together despite being thousands of kilometers away from their homeland.
He called the cohesion of the opposition movement – both at home and abroad – “unprecedented”.
It all starts, he said, with opposition primaries in 2023, inviting Venezuelans at home and abroad to vote for a candidate to challenge Maduro.
In the end, more than 2.3 million people participated in the election, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was elected amid overwhelming support.
Hernandez said when Machado was forced to withdraw from the race due to restrictions imposed by Maduro’s government, popular momentum shifted to Gonzalez’s campaign.
Hernández added, “This is an opportunity for the Venezuelan diaspora to shake off their sense of despair and start believing in change again.”
Venezuelan expatriates hold protests across Latin America, from Colombia to Mexico (Al Jazeera)For many expatriates, their political involvement is motivated by the dream of returning home, which is what drives Hernández’s activism. After his father died in Mexico City last month, Hernández is determined to fulfill his father’s last wish: to have his ashes spread in Venezuela.
To that end, Hernández is busy building political coalitions in Mexico City, and his campaign is already starting to bear fruit.
On August 17, during a global day of protest initiated by Machado, migrants and refugees rallied in more than 300 cities around the world, waving Venezuela’s tricolor flag and chanting “Freedom!”
According to Hernandez, more than 1,200 demonstrators gathered in Mexico City alone. Some Mexican politicians, such as former Senator Mariana Gomez del Campo, marched alongside the protesters in a show of solidarity, which was gratifying.
“It makes us feel like we’re not alone,” Hernandez said.