Global protests against Maduro –

AMERICA EDITORIAL (EFE).— Venezuelans took to the streets yesterday in America and Spain to denounce the fraud they believe occurred in the elections of July 28, when, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), President Nicolás Maduro won with 51.95% of the votes against the majority opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, who received 43.18%.

Amid a heat wave in South Florida, Venezuelans in exile showed their support for opposition leader María Corina Machado and the man they consider to be their country’s president-elect, González Urrutia, who has already been recognized by the United States and several countries in the region as the winner.

One of the first to speak was María Teresa Morín, from the VZLA Command, who remembered the Venezuelan political prisoners, “including my colleagues, some detained, others sheltered in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, which is now protected by Brazil.”

In the United States, where there are some 750,000 Venezuelans, 60% of whom are in South Florida, according to official data, calls for support for the opposition have multiplied in several cities, including New York.

“Freedom,” “Until the end,” “Maduro is a genocidal maniac,” “Not one more death,” “Death to communism,” and “Down with the chains” were some of the slogans heard throughout the three-hour-plus meeting.

Miami City Councilman Joe Carollo said that yesterday was just the beginning, as there will be “activities in other parts of the country to keep the issue of Venezuela out of the headlines in the United States.”

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, hundreds of protesters gathered around the Obelisk, waving Venezuelan flags and carrying signs that read “Free Venezuela,” “Enough of the dictatorship” and “Justice and freedom.”

The Argentine Vice-Chancellor, Leopoldo Sahores, who was present at the rally, told the Venezuelans that “they have the support of the government and, more importantly, of the entire Argentine people.”

In Madrid, Spain, a rally called by the Venezuelan opposition yesterday demanded that international pressure not cease until Maduro recognizes that the winner of the elections is González Urrutia.

The central Puerta del Sol in the capital of Spain gathered a crowd with Venezuelan flags and numerous banners reading: “We cannot ignore so many people asking for change”, “Nobody said it would be easy”, “Freedom for all political prisoners”, “The fight is not over”, among others, “Maduro lost, we have the minutes”, “Edmundo president with an overwhelming majority” and “Fraud”.

There were also demonstrations in Panama, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico. We reported on the demonstrations in the latter country in the National section.