'Fiesta Democratica' In Venezuela, Maduro Accepts Results

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El Universal, Dec. 7, 2015

CARACAS — Venezuelans congratulated themselves for what several officials described as an "exemplary" election, without violence or widespread accusations of fraud. The ballot Sunday saw the liberal opposition to President Nicolas Maduro took 99 of 167 parliamentary seats in a provisional vote count, with the ruling, socialist PSUV party winning 46 seats.

Opposition daily El Universal called it a "democratic party."

The provisional tally exceeded a simple majority of 84 seats, and opposition politicians were hoping they could finally win more than 110 seats in the next legislature, allowing them to make sweeping political changes, El Universal reported Monday.

In spite of fears he might defy results of a defeat, President Nicolás Maduro recognized the "adverse results" and attributed it to a "perfect" electoral system; he said the elections were a "triumph" of the country's democracy.

The opposition coalition's Executive Secretary, Jesús Torrealba, said their victory was "thunderous" and a new "cycle" of "unity" was starting for Venezuela.

"We won't persecute those who think differently from us. The constitution will be our ... compass," another opposition daily El Nacional reported him as saying. At the rally in Caracas where Torrealba spoke, crowds were chanting "Yes we did," (Sí se pudo), reminiscent of President Barack Obama's Yes We Can slogan.

EL UNIVERSAL (VENEZUELA)

El Universal is a major Venezuelan daily newspaper, headquartered in Caracas. Founded in 1909, it is part of the Latin American Newspaper Association (Spanish, PeriÃ³dicos Asociados Latinoamericanos), an organization of leading newspapers in Latin America.

EL UNIVERSAL

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Migrant Lives

Migration

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

David Peinado via Zuma Press

Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.