When voting day came around for the Venezuelan elections, UF student Rafael Arroyo rode from Gainesville to New Orleans to cast his ballot.
Venezuelan citizens across Florida flocked to Louisiana to vote in the Sunday presidential elections. Citizens used to be able to vote in Miami, but that consulate office was closed earlier this year due to political disagreements.
“I voted because I want the best for my family and my country,” the 23-year-old economics senior said. “I will take any action that will benefit them, whether it requires going all the way to China to vote.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was re-elected for a third six-year term after a close race against candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.
Chavez won with 55.14 percent of the vote, according to Consejo Nacional Electoral’s website, the national electoral council. Capriles came in second with 44.24 percent.
Arroyo said that he went all the way to New Orleans because he felt it was his civic responsibility to vote for Capriles and the change he promised.
“The current administration planted hatred among people with different ideologies,” said Arroyo, president of the UF Venezuelan Student Association. “Voting for the democratic option in the election represented a chance of reconciliation.”
Nicole d’Empaire, a 20-year-old UF microbiology junior and secretary of the Venezuelan Student Association, said she feels cheated by Chavez’s victory.
“I haven’t stepped foot in Venezuela since I left six years ago, and now the chances are even less,” she said.
