Venezuelans living in Dallas and 24 other U.S. cities plan to protest Sunday as President Nicolás Maduro seeks re-election to another six-year term.
International organizations are highly skeptical of Sunday's vote, and the U.S. protests are among more than 100 scheduled worldwide.
Organized by Casa Venezuela Dallas, Venezuelan citizens will meet at 11 a.m. at Ferris Plaza, 400 S. Houston St. They are planning to "reject not only the fake vote, but the many irregularities occurring in our country," said Johana Linares Juárez, one of the protest organizers.
"This election is a farce and we know the regime won't leave our motherland through the polls," said Linares, a fourth grade teacher at Anne Frank Elementary. "We will also be collecting signatures so the International Justice Court can open a process against Maduro."
The protest, backed by international organizations like Un Mundo Sin Mordaza and Justice for Venezuela, is aimed at getting President Donald Trump and other world leaders to reject Venezuela's election results and support Venezuelans seeking refuge outside their home country.
Last summer, Casa Venezuela gathered 5,000 participants for a mock voting exercise to protest Maduro’s plan to seat a special assembly to rewrite the country's constitution. That assembly moved the election forward to Sunday. By law, it should have been held in December.
Despite high stakes for her country on Sunday, Linares said she senses some "apathy" toward protesting among Venezuelans in exile.
"Perhaps they're tired. Some can feel defeated and think there's nothing left to do. Regardless, we expect at least 1,000 people Sunday," added Linares, a mother of two from Maracaibo who's been living in Texas for 11 years.
The business community is supporting the protesters, too, and not only small businesses.
Polar, a company whose first plant in the U.S. was built in Greenville in 2015, is among the backers. The Texas plant churns precooked corn flour used to make Venezuelan arepas.
Without candidates
March organizers made it clear that, even though Maduro faces two opponents in the election, it's not their intention to endorse any of them.
"We are responding to the masive call of [opposition group Mesa de Unidad Democrática] to not go to the polls because it's not a fair election," said Carolina Pereira, a journalist and member of Casa Venezuela Dallas. "The main opposition leaders are barred from running, and the current candidates are involved in some murky legal process."
![Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Henri Falcon gestures during the closing rally...](https://dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/VI2USKTMS4JATFQLWPUSGF4EZE.jpg?auth=f79db9812766b2ea81aafaa9bdd4eaa52455cee293457cb40996f54963a36a68&height=934&quality=80)
Challenger Javier Bertucci, a 48-year-old Evangelical pastor who was imprisoned for smuggling charges in 2010, is being investigated for money laundering. The preacher of the Maranatha Church in Caracas is mentioned in the Panama Papers, along with 370 other Venezuelans, for using Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to hide assets and profits in tax havens around the world.
The other presidential contender, Henri Falcón, 56, is a retired military officer and former governor of the state of Lara. He also was a member of Maduro's Partido Socialista Unido (United Socialist Party).
Falcón's campaign promises include dollarizing the economy to overcome economic crisis; rescuing PDVSA, Venezuela's oil company; allowing more foreign investment; and increasing the minimum wage.
With the world's highest inflation rate, Venezuelan workers earn just $3 a month, and the Caribbean country holds the top place in the Global Misery Index, which ranks countries based on financial indicators.
International repudiation
The Organization of American States made a call to postpone the election, and a dozen Latin American leaders from the Lima Group (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru), as well as United States and Spain, joined the call Monday alleging Venezuela lacks candidates and independent international observers.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went even further, asking the Lima Group to block Venezuelan leaders from using their financial systems and barring them from their countries, according to a Department of State news release.
![Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds his hand up during his closing campaign rally in...](https://dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/H7MB5NX75PR2ZO4NX3HLFJ4PYM.jpg?auth=dd11632e15d9374499ac3cfc68be9ca816b6c5a5d0b9659fa9a73e7973bc950c&width=830&quality=80)
Although Venezuelans living in Dallas can cast their ballots in the Venezuelan consulate in Houston, newcomers don't appear in the voter registry, since many are filing asylum claims in Texas.
Consular officials in Houston didn't respond to The Dallas Morning News' inquiries about the number of likely voters in Texas.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, more than 14,700 Venezuelan citizens requested asylum in 2016, a 160 percent increase over the previous year. The trend in 2017 remains the same: the U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that close to 30,000 more Venezuelans sought asylum in the U.S. last year.
Carla Rincón, president of the Venezuela Chamber of Commerce, estimates there are 8,000 to 10,000 Venezuelans living in Dallas-Fort Worth.
"We might be underestimating the numbers, because we receive daily phone calls from people requesting our services," Rincón added.