Venezuelan couple says vote has left their country 'in a mess'
Two Venezuelan-born Londoners say they support international sanctions against the country of their birth, arguing that President Nicolas Maduro has left the nation in turmoil.
- Canada condemns Venezuela's 'undemocratic' vote
-
Maduro claims new mandate in Venezuela after bitter vote with disputed turnout
"Right now, Venezuela is a mess and we aren't going to get out of this anytime soon," said Desiree Agudelo. She and her partner Felix Roa came to London in 2003 as conditions in their country under then president Hugo Chavez began to deteriorate.
Venezuelan election officials say more than eight million people voted Sunday for a new constitutional assembly that will give Maduro's ruling party virtually unlimited powers. However, international observers and analysts from around the world have condemned the vote as fraudulent.
Opposition leaders arrested
Opposition leaders estimated the real turnout at less than half the government's claim in a vote watched by government-allied observers but no internationally recognized poll monitors.
Maduro has said he will not deviate from this stated plan to rewrite the constitution and go after his enemies.
Meanwhile, opposition politicians have been arrested in recent days.
"The government is spending a lot of money to show people outside the country that everything is normal while Venezuelan people are suffering with no food, no medicine," said Agudelo.
Fearing for their safety, Agudelo and Roa say have not been back to Venezuela since leaving in 2003.
Canadian officials have condemned Sunday's vote, but have so far stopped short of following the Trump administration in imposing sanctions.
Roa said sanctions are important way to highlight the plight of Venezuela's 31 million people who he says "just want peace."
"At least it's a way to recognize what is happening in Venezuela, and that's very important to us. The people need some support from the outside."
Maduro called for the new constitutional assembly in May after a month of protests against his government, which has overseen Venezuela's descent into a devastating crisis during its four years in power.
Due to plunging oil prices and widespread corruption and mismanagement, Venezuela's inflation and homicide rates are among the world's highest, and widespread shortages of food and medicine have citizens dying of preventable illnesses and rooting through trash to feed themselves.
Agudelo says conditions in her home country can't improve under the current regime.
"We need a new government," she said.
With files from The Associated Press