00:00In Venezuela, in this moment, there is an electoral phenomenon.
00:05I feel that this election is different.
00:07There are giant mobilizations.
00:10I feel that this election has much more hope.
00:22I feel that this election is different.
00:25I feel that this election has much more commitment to the people.
00:27I feel that this election has much more hope.
00:30And I think people don't care what happened, but it's going to go ahead.
00:36In Venezuela, in this moment, as it has never been produced,
00:42there is an electoral phenomenon
00:44by the conditions of the opposition Maria Corina Machado
00:50and Edmundo González Urrutia, who is the candidate.
00:54I feel that there is an electoral phenomenon because in all the cities of the country
00:58there are gigantic mobilizations, like there was in the past.
01:03People came back to the street, but came back to the street
01:07supporting the vote, supporting the democratic exit,
01:11which is what is expected in the country.
01:17Since I started my electoral life and my political participation,
01:23in the full exercise of these rights, I have been very important
01:27in all the electoral processes.
01:29I have always tried to participate in the previous process,
01:33to be very attentive to all the processes, to follow-up.
01:37First, because I studied political science as my base career
01:42and that is my main motivation, but also as Venezuelan,
01:47and especially after that I migrated, I feel a special commitment
01:50with this process.
01:56For the elections in Venezuela, the electoral processes
02:04occurred with a certain normalcy,
02:09because there is always, of course, in the politics,
02:12there were encounters, enfrentamientos,
02:15but there was nothing that impeded the people
02:18to vote in their centers where they were accredited.
02:24After that, after that, after that,
02:30this regime, from the president Chávez,
02:36begins to change a little bit the dynamic,
02:39because there is a polarization in the country
02:42that never existed.
02:43Then, there is a political polarization
02:47that goes radicalizing the electoral process
02:50and they begin to create barriers,
02:53like, for example,
02:55the retardation in the electoral process.
02:58That process was very strong,
03:00especially because it had generated,
03:03not only the Venezuelans
03:05we didn't know if we were content
03:07for the end of many years
03:10in a difficult process as we lived,
03:12or simply to fill us with much more expectation
03:15with respect to what could happen
03:18in front of those who could take
03:21the power of Hugo Chávez Frío.
03:24So, even though we were children
03:28and we were in the school,
03:30the expectation was latent.
03:36In Colombia and in the outside, in general,
03:41there were a lot of barriers
03:42for the inscription of new voters.
03:46For example, in my particular case,
03:49I am resident, I have eight years in Colombia,
03:52I have a visa that, of course,
03:55that has much more than three years.
03:57So, it seems to be a counter-sentence
04:00that I cannot, with that visa
04:02of resident,
04:03to be able to justify,
04:06and valga the redundancy,
04:08my residence in Colombia.
04:10Also, they exigied the passport
04:12in the current passport,
04:14and many compatriotas
04:16didn't have the passport,
04:18and it was very expensive.
04:19The other thing is that they exigied
04:23that they didn't accept the passport
04:28and the majority of our citizens here
04:33have the passport.
04:35The board of the passport
04:37sent a petition
04:39to the Venezuelans here
04:41where it says
04:42that the passport
04:43acredita the residence in Colombia,
04:45however,
04:46the consulado
04:46didn't accept it.
04:47So, imagine,
04:49the majority of Venezuelans
04:52who are here
04:53who have the permission
04:54of protection
04:55could not be registered
04:57for that reason.
04:58That's why
04:58they were not recognized.
04:59That's why
04:59they were very few,
05:02only 3%
05:05could not be registered.
05:21The importance
05:22of voting abroad
05:23is the majority
05:25of Venezuelans
05:26and millions
05:27of Venezuelans
05:27that are
05:28in all parts of the world.
05:31However,
05:32despite this
05:33and that
05:33opened the doors
05:34after more
05:35of 8 years
05:36of struggle
05:36for the right
05:39to vote
05:40in the exterior
05:40of the Venezuelans
05:41in the exterior,
05:42well,
05:43they were so
05:44that
05:45that
05:46the population
05:47vote
05:48or that
05:49electoral
05:50that
05:50does
05:51have
05:51of the
05:52people
05:52who
05:52in the
05:52state
06:01of the
06:03United
06:03in the
06:04United
06:06Union,
06:06but not
06:07unity
06:07in a
06:08agenda,
06:08but
06:08unity
06:09for the first
06:10process.
06:11There are
06:12things
06:12in
06:13the
06:13opposition,
06:14this is according to the proposals from the opposition, but internally, if we look at
06:20there, there is no specific agenda as we can see in other cases. Like the
06:25point in this moment is to be able to get first to the elections, and the second is
06:30that the elections could take place in a minimum environment that could generate
06:36a minimum of transparency, so that this could be an initial process of transition.
06:44More than opposition, I consider that the Venezuelans in this moment are
06:51apegados to the democratic forces, to this group that, regardless of the
06:58parties or the sectors, because this, as I mentioned, more than parties, it is a
07:05movement, it is a group of sectors united by the democracies, they
07:11to the end of the dictatorship in Venezuela.
07:20The diaspora, no only is important, contabilizing it as a vote, but precisely the
07:27diaspora is important, bringing information, making sure the international community
07:33what could be happening in Venezuela, bringing information that sometimes
07:37is encrypted in the country. The diaspora has a very important role in this process and not
07:43just the day of the elections. And I think that the political parties have not
07:48known or have taken importance, I don't judge because in Venezuela there is a
07:53context that it is so complex, that it is very difficult to prioritize where
07:57to carry out the resources and people, and it is difficult in a
08:02context that it is so restricted.
08:07The international community celebrates that in Venezuela it is going to go to
08:11some type of process, but with the time they realize that there are not
08:16enough guarantees for the electoral process, and they decide, as a way of
08:24protest, to say that there is not a transparent process, to not
08:28acompañar or exigir, and who decides how to restrain that process is Venezuela.
08:36The President Petro, in a way, very assertive, has proposed that
08:41to be a kind of agreement where to respect the opposition, or in this case,
08:49to those who come out of the government, who win the elections, respect the
08:54country, because that is that it is that it is that it is a peace, a
09:00stability of the country. We believe that that is a good measure,
09:04but it is not done. The President Lula da Silva also
09:08pleaded to that proposal and it is not done. It is not done, but we think that
09:15everything will go through in a healthy peace.
09:19We hope we have much more support, much more support by the
09:22government, taking into account that it is one of the main affected by the migraine, in
09:28a bad or good sense.
09:30Certainly, we are going to live a new migration migration in the second semester of the year
09:36and Colombia is not prepared.
09:40Institutional, the narratives start to change.
09:44From now on, one year begins this narrative that things in Venezuela were improving,
09:51that people were returning, which is completely false.
09:56And also, at the local level, I think that these same narratives have been reduced
10:01a little bit the investment and the attention that there are on the issues of migration.
10:08Of course, the migration in Colombia tends to be a double-file
10:13for the governments, precisely because when they have policies
10:17with more education of human rights and support the migrant population,
10:23they have more rejection in the welcome population.
10:27No only are the countries, but also the organizations and the citizens
10:33are present to watch every electoral center.
10:38And this is going to be extremely important.
10:40Because the international observation is necessary and important,
10:46but with the circumstances in which it is limited to that there is also
10:53that there is a international observation of the right way in Venezuela,
10:57the citizens again play a fundamental role.
11:06What is the most important thing about the people?
11:07What is the most important thing about the people?
11:11that if they are going to be able to win the politics of 28,
11:14it is not that the 29 of July the opposition will take away,
11:18it will take away the power of this.
11:21These are six months that we will have to wait,
11:24that they will have to expect to happen,
11:25that they will have to happen many things in the Venezuelan context.
11:27And after that six months it will take a long time
11:30for the situation of the country,
11:32we will see changes.
11:33and that can also begin to expect people because the economic issue continues to be dramatic.
11:42Once the government is assumed, we have to make a recomposition of all institutions,
11:51we have to re-institutionalize the country.
11:54And then we have some órganos that are totally controlled by the government,
12:00the Supreme Court, the National Electoral Council, the legislature,
12:07all of that is under control of the government
12:09because those who conform are the politicians of the PCV.
12:16The call is mainly to understand the right to vote
12:21as a fundamental right to not only all Venezuelans,
12:26but all human beings.
12:29And that understanding that in a region like ours,
12:35in Latin America and in America in general,
12:38that we are in a crisis of democracy,
12:42it is necessary to fight and take positions
12:45always in favor of them,
12:47independent of the ideologies that these governments have.
12:53For those who are still wondering if the vote can be changed,
12:57the regime can be.
12:59We did it in 2015 when we took the National Assembly
13:02and we thought that we could do it like the Zulia in the last election.
13:06So, if it is possible, it is not an easy task,
13:11but if we all put the grain of sand, we can achieve it.
13:18Thank you for your support.
13:44Transcription by CastingWords
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