MIAMI (WSVN) - South Florida leaders and exiles have gathered to show support for Venezuelan Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó amidst a humanitarian crisis.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Emilio Estefan hosted a vigil in Doral at 6:30 p.m. Friday, after days of unrest in Venezuela.
“It’s going to be a small production with a big message,” Estefan said. “Freedom is coming to Venezuela. I promise it’s going to happen, and what happens in Venezuela, is going to impact the other countries in the world.”
Inclement weather forced the vigil’s organizers to move indoors, but spirits ran high despite the wet weather outside.
Earlier in the day, U.S. senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott showed solidarity for the Venezuelan people.
“Nothing can contain the spirit of the Venezuelan people,” Suarez said. “To me this was the tears of the Virgin Mary suffering over the losses on Venezuela, and hopefully, Emilio and I are hoping this prayer service will prompt the Venezuelan military to really change and to free its own people.”
“We are standing with them,” Rubio said. “They are the ones being shot at. They are the ones going to jail. They are the ones that are being brave and courageous.”
The senators stopped in South Florida Friday with an urgent call to action for the global community as a humanitarian crisis takes hold of Venezuela.
“This is man-made by a bunch of evil people,” Scott said. “There is complete genocide going on.”
This week, protests turned deadly as loyalists to President Nicolas Maduro clashed with Guaidó’s supporters.
The U.S. and 50 other countries recognized Guaidó as the country’s interim president, and Guaidó has urged members of the military to defect.
“Juan Guaidó controls no security forces, has no money, controls no television stations, has no way to threaten or jail anyone, and yet he can freely walk the streets and convene thousands of Venezuelans at a moment’s notice,” Rubio said. “Nicolas Maduro cannot even leave a military base.”
On Friday, Guaidó delivered a message of his own and addressed the nation and urged his supporters to stay the course.
“They fired at a police officer that was working for civilians,” Guaidó said through a translator. “Can you imagine that? So we know that we need to continue to protest that operation freedom is in fact what we have to continue, civilly and peacefully.”
Guaidó also urged supporters to join a massive outreach effort Saturday morning to get soldiers to join their movement.
Back in South Florida, the support for Guaidó remains strong as they continue pushing for peace for the country in crisis.
“It’s a vibration that you feel that it’s something out of this world,” attendee Alex Garcia said. “We feel like everybody, we’re here as brothers, not as different countries. We’re all united.”
“Everybody should join in, get together and do something,” attendee Mariam Fuentes said. “No matter where you’re from, we all feel the same thing.”
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