Venezuelans in Miami voted massively yesterday in a plebiscite organized by the opposition to tell President Nicolás Maduro and “the world” that they reject his government and the Constituent Assembly that he proposes.
More than 93,000 people participated in the plebiscite in South Florida, according to partial data provided by the organizers.
The approximate participation in the whole circuit that had to exercise his right in the consulado of Miami was of 93,166 when two hours for the closing of the polls were missing.
The schedule extended two hours due to voter turnout, according to the Communications Committee of the Bureau of Democratic Unity of Venezuela in South Florida.
The Venezuelan community left to vote in mass in seven positions in the metropolitan area of Miami during a nine-hour day with long lines, congestion of traffic and an intense sun, with temperatures near 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Venezuelan Yomar Villalobos, who accompanied his wife and two of his daughters, said that this “survey” is “a worldwide pressure on the reality that is happening in Venezuela that the government can not stop it coming to the public “.
Clustered at the Bureau of Democratic Unity (MUD) in South Florida, the popular referendum at about thirty polling stations in the state, as well as in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, closed its polls at 4 pm , Although in several of the places was spread by the influx of public.
Minutes before closing, Beatriz Olavarría, of the Electoral Commission in South Florida, estimates that at least 160,000 to 170,000 have voted in these states.
Venezuelan journalist Helena Poleo told Efe that the Miami-Dade vote against Maduro is not “surprising,” but that she will be the number of voters in the county, which she believes can double the 50,000 of the outdated Venezuelan voters.
Lawyer Patricia Montero said that the Venezuelan government has to give “legitimacy” to this popular consultation, promoted by the National Assembly, with opposition majority, because “all the popular vote counts, inside or outside the country.”
“So do not do anything there (in Venezuela), when you see those young people dying, I feel that at least I’m helping them,” said Maria Gabriela Tassi, referring to at least 94 dead who have left the opposition demonstrations Since last April.
Tassi was happy that it is the first time he can vote in the United States, after the closing of the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami in 2012 and that has forced these citizens to move to vote in New Orleans.
Her mother, Alba Tassi, who owns a popular Venezuelan restaurant, told Efe that she hopes her vote will be “a grain of sand to get out of this nightmare.”
“I always thought that Venezuela was going the wrong way, but I never thought I would play the background that is playing,” said Tassi, who has been in the country for more than thirty years.
He explained that since 1964 he did not participate in a vote and that he does it for his family in Venezuela that is passing needs “because even if you have the money you can not buy a swim because there is not”.
For Mercedes Aguerrevere, who was happy that even her 18-year-old son was able to vote, today’s “the beginning to start a change”.
