MIAMI (WSVN) - On the same day that thousands of Venezuelans flooded the streets of Caracas to protest against President Nicolás Maduro, hundreds gathered in Doral and Downtown Miami in a show of solidarity, shutting down southbound traffic on Biscayne Boulevard for hours.
By 5 p.m., people had gathered in front of the Freedom Tower for a demonstration that began at 5:30 pm. Police shut down the southbound lanes of Biscayne Boulevard between Northeast Sixth and Eighth Streets, before 7 p.m. By 8 p.m., police reopened Biscayne Boulevard, though hundreds of people remained.
“It’s obvious that we need change,” Luis Gonzalez Castillo said.
Throughout the night, the Freedom Tower remained lit up with the colors of the Venezuelan flag.
Claudia Poblette said she is upset that she can’t go back to her home country to help. “It’s really sad because I can’t do anything,” Poblette said, “because I can’t go back to my country. I’m right here because I applied for asylum.”
Jani Mendez, who said her brother has been jailed in Venezuela, called on other countries to intervene in the country, while at the Doral rally earlier in the day. “They’re killing us,” she said. “We don’t have food. We don’t have medicine. At this point, we need help. It’s not something we invented, like the government said.”
South Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo joined the protesters in front of El Arepazo, on Northwest 79th Avenue.
“We need to raise awareness about what’s happening in Venezuela and build political will in the United States to continue pressuring the Venezuelan government and other governments to get Nicolás Maduro out of power,” Curbelo said.
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