Venezuelans around the world demand free elections in support of opposition candidate María Corina Machado

Hundreds of Venezuelans demonstrated this Saturday in a dozen countries to demand free elections in their nation and in support of opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had sent two video messages to Venezuelans abroad, in which she asked them to remain “organized throughout the world.”

Machado’s political party, Vente Venezuela (VV), posted numerous photographs and videos of the protests on social media, which took place in some 50 cities around the world.

“It is a very important day, today, April 6, because the world confirms once again everything that unites us, the strength of our conditions. And despite the distance and so many years away, we Venezuelans are today united in a common dream, and that is to liberate our country and unite our families again, to build that Venezuela full of grace of which we all feel proud to shout to the world that we are Venezuelans,” Machado said in a message addressed to all the Venezuelans who participated in the demonstrations.

The opposition leader also called on Venezuelans to continue fighting for transparent and competitive lessons, which will take place on July 28 in Venezuela.

“The repression has been brutal. The regime wants to block the electoral route and also wants to make us feel that we have lost, that we are defeated, that there is no option to advance and this is totally false. “We have been overcoming one by one all the obstacles that have been put in front of us,” she said.

🇻🇪🗺️ Mensaje de María Corina Machado a los venezolanos en el exterior que participan hoy #6Abr en la protesta mundial para denunciar:
❌ Bloqueo electoral
🆘 Violaciones a los DDH

Ratificamos el mandato del #22Oct, ¡@MariaCorinaYA/@yorisvillasana es nuestra candidata!

(📽️1/2) pic.twitter.com/hVhszgCsJ3

— Mundo Con Vzla (@MundoConVzla) April 6, 2024

According to reports from VV and organizations that make up the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the demonstrations took place in Argentina, the United States, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Uruguay and Chile.

Demonstrators flew Venezuelan flags and raised signs with Machado's face, as they called themselves “defenders of democracy.”

They also asked the Colombian President Gustavo Petro; Brazil, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to stand with them so “they are not accomplices” of the dictator Nicolás Maduro.

¡GRANDE, MADRID!

Protesta de venezolanos en Madrid 🇪🇸 para denunciar el bloqueo electoral y exigir el cese de las violaciones a los DDHH en Venezuela 🇻🇪

¡Luchamos por #EleccionesLibresVzla con @MariaCorinaYA/@yorisvillasana! pic.twitter.com/EvXmgnmglJ

— Mundo Con Vzla (@MundoConVzla) April 6, 2024

A large poster with the motto “Free elections for Venezuela” presided over the rally in the center of Madrid of half a thousand Venezuelans, who denounced the obstacles to registering for the next elections.

Since mid-March, hundreds of Venezuelans abroad have reported that their consulates are preventing them from registering to vote in the presidential elections, while diplomatic officials claim that they have not received the machines to capture fingerprints.

The demonstrations have been repeatedly launched in several consulates in both Latin America and Europe, in which voters and activists denounced the regime’s attempts to prevent the registration of 5.2 million Venezuelans living abroad, outside the South American country.

For its part, the Venezuelan dictatorship has attributed the registration problem for those abroad to international sanctions, ensuring that they delay the process and make it difficult to send the machines.