Venezuelan diaspora mobilises against Maduro

It was seeking to delegitimise Maduro’s plans to rewrite the constitution with an unofficial plebiscite

Traffic police officers stop a car and check documents of a passenger and a driver during an overnight spot check in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on Saturday. MADRID/MIAMI: Venezuelan migrants, many of whom fled economic crisis and rampant crime in their homeland, voted in droves in hundreds of cities around the world on Sunday in an unofficial plebiscite that aims to challenge leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

With improvised polling stations in more than 80 countries, the Venezuelan diaspora was seeking to delegitimise Maduro’s plans to rewrite the constitution after three months of anti-government protests that have led to nearly 100 deaths.

In central Madrid, home to a significant Venezuelan population, some 30,000 Venezuelans were expected to cast their ballot throughout the day, while a strong turnout was also expected in Venezuelan-expat hubs like Miami, Bogota, and Panama City, according to the opposition.

“With this vote we want to say to Maduro that Venezuela can’t wait. We want elections now. The people want him out,” said Audrey Lopez, 49, who was among volunteers staffing a polling station in the Spanish capital.

“I haven’t been back to Venezuela in four years. What I save on the journey I send to my family in food, medicine or hygiene products because they are either very expensive or non-existent there,” she added. Mitzy Capriles, wife of former Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma who is currently in prison on charges of conspiracy, also voted in Madrid, while the father of prominent opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez cast his ballot in Rome.

“Today we are gathering peacefully to send a clear message that (the Venezuelan government) needs to listen ... and to open its eyes and see what is happening and what the people of Venezuela want,” the elder Leopoldo Lopez told reporters.

Official data on Venezuelans who have left is difficult to come by. Sociologist Tomas Paez estimates some 2 million have emigrated since the late Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 and that the pace has picked up under Maduro.