Achi news desk-
Several dozen Venezuelan Calgarians gathered at Calgary City Hall on Saturday afternoon calling for free and fair presidential elections in that country.
They are angry that the Maduro government has broken the Barbados Agreement signed last October by the Maduro government and the Venezuelan opposition United Democratic Platform to ensure a fair and free presidential election this July.
“They agreed on the procedures and everything. At the moment, the government is not following all the procedures that both sides agreed to support in October,” said the organizer of the rally Freddy Olivares.
“The opposition came together and united as one party and now there is a clear leader for the opposition to represent us in the presidential elections.”
The United Democratic Platform held that primary election on October 22, 2023 and Maria Corina Machado was the winner with 93% of votes among more than 2.4 million voters.
However, in January, the Venezuelan Supreme Court decided to ban her from participating in the election.
The Government of Canada supports the Barbados Agreement and condemns the Maduro regime as it controls Venezuela’s institutions including the judicial, executive and legislative branches.
Nicolás Maduro has been the president of Venezuela since 2013. He began his new six-year presidential term in January 2019 starting a presidential crisis that spanned almost four years and divided the international community.
In 2014, shortages in Venezuela and lower living standards led to a wave of protests that escalated into daily marches across the country and a decline in Maduro’s popularity.
According to estimates by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch, under the Maduro administration, more than 20,000 people have been subjected to extrajudicial killings and seven million Venezuelans have been forced to flee the country.
Similar rallies were also held on Saturday in Toronto and Montreal.
