Red, yellow and blue engulfed Depot Park during a Saturday protest against Venezuela’s recent election, which has spurred international controversy over its results.
Nicolás Maduro defeated opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia in a highly disputed election on July 28.
The National Electoral Council, one of the country’s branches of government, determined his 2024 victory without data to confirm it. The opposition party then revealed that González had won the majority vote.
He has remained in power since 2013 and is expected to further violate human rights. Venezuela’s opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, called for protests against the election results and Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
While those protests continue to erupt in Venezuela, community members in Gainesville are showing their solidarity from afar.
Diego Alizo, a 30-year-old UF computer science junior, attended the protest with his friends. It was his first protest in support of his home country.
“We have lived in a dictatorship for a long time,” Alizo said.
Seven million Venezuelans have fled the country, while 19 million are affected by a humanitarian crisis under Maduro’s regime. There is minimal access to healthcare and proper nutrition, according to the Human Rights Watch. Maduro’s opponents have been harassed, arrested and killed.
Alizo was among about 80 attendees in the crowd advocating for transparent elections free from Maduro’s control. Some draped the flag around their shoulders; others wore it proudly on their T-shirts and baseball caps. The energy was high as attendees greeted each other before they began to sing the Venezuelan national anthem and chant “¡Venezuela Libre!”
“Being able to see all the people come together really warms my heart,” he said.
Valeria Alfonzo, a 21-year-old UF political science and psychology senior, attended the demonstration carrying a poster that read “We voted. We won. No more dictatorship.”
She grew up in Venezuela surrounded by protests and left when she was 13 years old. She protested for her family, which does not have the same rights in Venezuela as she does in the U.S.
“If you keep exerting pressure, eventually the system will cave in and things will be fixed,” she said. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Constanza Benedetti, a 26-year-old UF alum, found the election results devastating but not surprising, she said. But she also said every voice that protests makes a difference.
“Now, we are not only bringing awareness to what is going on in our country and all the injustices that we're facing, but also we are bringing our awareness of who we are,” she said.
She protests for the families who left their loved ones and livelihoods when leaving Venezuela. Benedetti hopes more people will come out to future protests to learn about the issues facing Venezuelans, she said.
“We are people [who] are worth saving,” Benedetti said.
Contact Delia Rose Sauer at drosesauer@alligator.org. Follow her on X @_delia_rose_.
Delia Rose Sauer is a junior journalism student and the Fall 2024 University General Assignment Reporter. This is her second semester on the University Desk. In her free time, she's drawing on Procreate, crocheting or exploring music genres.
