Local South Florida officials are preparing to host thousands of Venezuelans as they form part of a global protest movement denouncing election fraud in the recent presidential elections.
Protestors are expected to convene across Florida this Saturday, August 17th, but will likely concentrate in South Florida given the large Venezuelan migrant presence in the area.
Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro, despite having lost the last presidential elections to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, claimed victory and refused to relinquish power.
Venezuela’s elections follow failed negotiations between Venezuela’s government and President Joe Biden’sadministration over electoral assurances in exchange for sanctions relief.
Despite promises of allowing free and fair elections, the Venezuelan regime barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from participating in the same.
However, Machado invested her political capital into former Venezuelan Ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez, who subsequently won the presidential elections.
Dictator Maduro has fiercely persecuted his political opposition, even arbitrarily arresting opposition party leaders days before the presidential elections.
Maduro threatened prior to the elections that if he was defeated, “Venezuela would turn into a bloodbath.”
International pressure has increased for Maduro to step down and some allege President Biden offered the former amnesty if he agrees to a peaceful power transition.
Saturday’s protests seek to capitalize on the growing movement to re-establish Venezuela’s democracy.
Meanwhile, Maduro’s latest public appearances seem as defiant as ever, saying to the US “he will not be their slave.”
