Representatives of Venezuelan migrant associations in Ecuador emphasized on August 2nd in Quito that the July 28th elections in Venezuela were an “electoral fraud.”

The results of the presidential elections in Venezuela, described as a “fraud” by the Venezuelan opposition and questioned by the international community, could provoke a new wave of migration from the Caribbean country to Ecuador and other countries on the continent.

This warning was issued by Egleth Noda, president of the Chamos Venezolanos Foundation in Ecuador, which provides humanitarian assistance, especially medical aid, to migrants and vulnerable populations in Ecuador.

“From the review we have carried out in recent days, we are struck by a significant wave of migration to the city of Quito and the entry points into the country. It is a real concern of the medical team of Chamos Venezolanos in Ecuador, the negative impact of the election results in Venezuela,” said Noda at a press conference on August 2, 2024, in Quito, organized by the Association of Venezuelan Journalists in Ecuador.

The NGO spokesperson explained that the foundation usually receives between 100 and 200 requests for humanitarian assistance per week on its website. However, in the last week, the requests have increased to 800, with the majority being from Venezuelans. These are families who plan to come to Ecuador or are already in the border city of Tulcán.

“The situation is serious, staying silent means becoming accomplices. The humanitarian crisis is going to worsen to levels never seen before. We need support,” added Noda. She also called on international humanitarian organizations to be prepared for this possible wave of migration.

“Venezuela Needs Help”

Yasmina Hera, president of the Association of Venezuelan Journalists in Ecuador, reiterated that the July 28th elections were “electoral fraud” and asked for support to reveal “the truth” of what happened. The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.

“Venezuela is asking for support. Venezuela needs help. The crisis in Venezuela has been one of the most devastating; millions of Venezuelans have been displaced, and those who remain are fighting for survival,” Hera said.

“I hope that as a Venezuelan community in Ecuador we can return to our homeland and rebuild a country devastated by a number of criminals who are in the government,” added Andrés Ceballos, coordinator of the primary elections of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) in Ecuador, in which María Corina Machado was the winner in October 2023, although the CNE prevented her from participating in the July 28, 2024 electoral process.

Desirée Olaves, spokesperson for the ‘Comando con Venezuela’ (campaign command of Edmundo González and María Corina Machado) in Ecuador, recalled that so far there have been 672 arrests, 11 disappearances, and 17 murders in the context of protests over the election results announced last week.

“Venezuelan society always pays for the dead. This is a murderous regime. We have to defend the votes. Abroad, we have to denounce each of the arbitrary acts of the Nicolás Maduro regime. Venezuela is currently convulsed and besieged,” Olaves stressed.

“Illegitimate Government”

Venezuelan migrants in Quito gathered on Saturday, August 3rd, in Bicentennial Park in the north of Quito, in favor of the “freedom” of their country and in rejection of the “electoral fraud” of July 28th.

Also present at the event was Luis Fernando Ayala, leader of the political movement Construye, who was invited to Venezuela by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado as an observer of the electoral process.

Ayala emphasized that there is no democracy in Venezuela and that the July 28th elections were a fraud. “We have to stop treating the Maduro government under the fiction of democracy. Arriving at Maiquetía Airport (Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela) is entering a dictatorship regime. This was a fraud in every sense of the word.”

“The Ecuadorian government must begin to treat the Maduro government as what it is, an illegitimate government. In Venezuela, there is an elected president, and it is Edmundo González Urrutia,” Ayala said.

In the early afternoon of August 2, 2024, the Government of Daniel Noboa recognized Edmundo González as the winner of the presidential elections in Venezuela, “after the evident manipulation of the results of the electoral process in that country,” according to a statement from the Presidency.