DES MOINES, Iowa — On Saturday, Central Iowans from Venezuela brought the fight for change in Venezuela to Des Moines with a protest at Cowles Commons.
Since last month’s presidential election, which the government claims socialist party member Nicolás Maduro Moro won, people in Venezuela have been protesting.
This comes after the country’s opposition party obtained tally sheets that show his opponent, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a landslide.
At the Des Moines rally, protestors demanded that the truth come out and called on members of Congress from Iowa to speak out on the situation in Venezuela.
“We want the real results to be recognized, and we are mobilizing to recover the path to democracy and bring good change for the good future of Venezuela,” protest organizer Vanessa Marcano-Kelly said.
Marcano-Kelly was born in Venezuela and has family that still lives there.
“If you're in Iowa and you know anyone who is Venezuelan, just give them a hug,” she said.
In Venezuela the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner of this year’s presidential election. However, the council is run by his allies and it has refused to release the final vote tallies which is standard procedure following elections.
“You want freedom,” protestor Yenni Soley said. “We don't want to be under a regime of dictatorship where we all are repressed, persecuted, arrested.”
Since the government announced the results, many in Venezuela have taken to the streets in protest. A UN Human Rights council found that so far, at least 1,261 protestors have been detained and 23 deaths have been tied to the government.
“People in Venezuela are scared to even share anything [on social media] because they think, ‘Well, what if someone comes to knock on my door and say that I'm plotting?’” Marcano-Kelly said.
Iowa protestors say they couldn’t sit idle while their family members thousands of miles away continue to suffer.
“It's tough to be away from your country and see what's going on over there as people are trying to peacefully fight for change in Venezuela,” Marcano-Kelly said.
Saturday’s protest was one of hundreds going on around the country, Venezuela and the world.