SARASOTA – Thousands of Venezuelans marched the streets of Caracas as a new interim president was sworn in. Hundreds gathered at Bayfront Park in downtown Sarasota to celebrate a new symbol of hope for the country.
“MADURO SE VA!”
Hundred chants “Maduro is out of here” after news of opposition leader Juan Guaido is sworn as interim president of Venezuela.
“Today has been a historic day for Venezuela and all of our towns and cities in Venezuela have people marching and we couldn’t just sit back,” says Martha Adriana Nunez, a Venezuelan resident of the Suncoast.
Nunez is one of the organizers of Wednesday night’s rally. She says she and her family had to leave their home country 12-years-ago when things were just starting to get bad.
“The Chavismo was starting to solidify itself and I decided to immigrate here with my kids to escape Hugo Chavez tyranny and the Chavista regime,” says Nunez.
According to an article published by The New York Times More than three million Venezuelans have left the country in recent years.
And Nunez story is not unique. Yuleida Pena also says her family had to escape the tyranny that was overtaking the county. “The truth is, today is a huge day for us because we see a light at the end of the tunnel,” says Pena
Nunez and Pena says both have hope for the future of Venezuela. However the fight is far from over. They say their family in Venezuela is still in need of essential supplies.
“Well the help – just imagine we at times need to send food, medicine at our families over there because everything is in short supply. The people are dying of hunger , the patients are dying in the hospitals because of lack of medicine,” says Nunez.
Nunez says this is a start for a new change for Venezuela and urges Venezuelans in the Suncoast to come together to continue helping those in need back home. “The goal is to unite more as a Venezuelan community here in Sarasota, everyday more arrive. We need to know how to act, what to do, where to find them and give them all the support that they need,” she says.
