“Free Venezuela”: Maduro opponents gather in Montpellier to demand change of government

Comme Montpellier, 350 autres villes ont accueilli des manifestations ce samedi 17 août. Midi Libre

This Saturday, August 17, a demonstration against the Venezuelan government took place in front of the Montpellier tourist office. The participants claimed victory for the opposition candidate and demanded an end to the repression.

“Venezuela libre”: at 5pm this Saturday, August 17, these words are displayed on the placards of the hundred or so demonstrators gathered in front of the tourist office in Montpellier. In response to the call of María Corina Machado, the main opposition figure to the government of Nicolás Maduro, the participants are demanding the recognition of Edmundo González Urrutia as the elected president of Venezuela. Under the slogan “Ganó Venezuela” (“Venezuela has won”, Editor's note), pronounced by Machado, opponents gathered this Saturday in more than 350 cities around the world.

“There was electoral fraud. They want to steal our votes.” Paola Hernández, one of the organizers of the event, denounces the lack of transparency of the National Electoral Council (CNE, the electoral authority in Venezuela) regarding the electoral results. “The CNE must make them public.” According to the minutes published by the opposition, González Urrutia would have won the July 28 election with 67% of the vote instead of the 51.2% in favor of Maduro announced by the CNE."We want to see if the numbers add up", she says.

"Regaining lost rights"

The objective of this demonstration, explains Paola, is to “push for a peaceful transition of government without new massacres”. Outraged, she describes the situation in Venezuela: “No one can raise their voice. The police go to the homes of opponents to arrest them. We have testimonies from people whose homes have been burned down." Since July 28, at least 25 people have died and more than 2,200 are detained, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Coming from a family of expatriate entrepreneurs, Paola runs a construction company in Montpellier. "We are grateful for France's welcome." However, she admits that she misses her country: “Here we can go out in the street safely, but this is not our country, our people or our culture. It affects us emotionally.” She advocates “change to regain lost values ​​and rights.”