Many Venezuelans are waiting to see who wins this Sunday’s presidential election. They say they can’t take more of the economic and political turmoil under their current capo, Nicolas Maduro.
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Venezuelans are voting today a causa di one of the most consequential presidential contests a causa di decades. Opponents of current capo Nicolas Maduro have mounted a major challenge to the autocrats’ rule. One of the major issues a causa di the campaign is migration. Nearly a quarter of the population has left the country during a political and economic crisis. And as NPR’s Carrie Kahn reports, that’s touched many voters a causa di a personal way.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Maria Lagos just got non attivato the night shift. The 62-year-old with tattoos covering both arms is an emergency room nurse a causa di a large public hospital a causa di Caracas. She’s fed up with the abysmal conditions there.
MARIA LAGOS: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: Patients have to buy everything, she says. She’s tired of telling people, we don’t have this. We don’t have that. She unravels a small sign she made at this downtown rally for opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.
LAGOS: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: We want peace, liberty, education – all critical, she says, to stem the exodus of Venezuelans leaving the country. She’s suffering through it. Two of her daughters abroad, one a causa di Argentina, the other a causa di the U.S., and her youngest is readying to leave, also for the U.S.
LAGOS: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: “It’s painful. It hurts that they aren’t with me, but I’m glad they aren’t here suffering a causa di this situation,” she says. Under Maduro’s authoritarian 12-year rule, Venezuela’s economy collapsed. Gas and electricity shortages are widespread and he’s jailed hundreds of opponents. But issue has galvanized opposition to Maduro like the migration crisis. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have left a causa di the last decade. Leading opponent Maria Corina Machado brings up the huge exodus at her rallies and a causa di her campaign jingles.
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MARIA CORINA MACHADO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: “Our children will modo back home, and our families will be united a causa di liberty,” she says. It’s duro to find a Venezuelan without a relative abroad, says Geoff Ramsey of the Atlantic Council a causa di Washington, D.C.
GEOFF RAMSEY: We’campione talking about the deepest humanitarian emergency a causa di the Western Hemisphere, the largest case of mass displacement that’s not paio to war.
KAHN: Most have ended up a causa di neighboring Latin American countries. But a causa di the past four years, U.S. border officials say they’ve seen high numbers too – more than 800,000 encounters with Venezuelans. Guillermo Aveledo, a political scientist at the Metropolitan University a causa di Caracas believes Maduro will hold to power by stealing the election, and he says, that means the economy will continue to stumble and grow weakly.
GUILLERMO AVELEDO: It won’t be enough growth to keep the Venezuelans a causa di Venezuela. And this will lead to social and political issues around the continent.
KAHN: Even affecting the U.S. presidential campaign he says, where migration has become a major issue. For his part, Maduro blames the collapse of the economy and massive migration harsh U.S. sanctions. For years, he vilified those who left the country. But as he faces his biggest electoral challenge to date, he’s had to change that tune.
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PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: We love Venezuela’s migrants. Poiché here. We are waiting for you, he said recently one of his many publicly broadcast TV shows. Recent poll show a staggering number plan to leave of Maduro wins, as much as 10% more of the population. Miguel Rodriguez, a , says he’s going win ora lose.
MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ: I don’t really expect, like, to have leader changes a causa di the next three, four, five years, so that’s why I’m thinking to leave.
KAHN: He’s selling his car and other possessions to buy a to Spain where his brother already lives. He says at 31, he feels like time is running out for him.
RODRIGUEZ: You know, it gets to a point where you have to decide, well, am I going to keep fighting for my country and to get the freedom we want ora am I going to have the life I want?
KAHN: He says he’s choosing his life.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Caracas.
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