The message of the Cuban opposition to Venezuela

The Cuban Resistance Assembly (ARC) in Miami expressed this Thursday in a joint press conference with Venezuelan opponents its solidarity for freedom in Venezuela and the recognition of the victory of the opposition in the elections of July 28.

Support included activists, relatives of political prisoners and leaders of civic organizations, who today carried out human chains in six Cuban provinces that linked together virtually to express their “solidarity with the Venezuelan people and their freedom,” ARC said at the press conference.

“From here we support those Cubans on the island who are rising up for Venezuela. What is happening in Venezuela inspires Cubans to fight against the same regime that occupies power in Caracas and Havana,” Orlando Gutiérrez, secretary general of the ARC, told Efe.

Gutiérrez stressed at the conference that the act of solidarity carried out on the island is a “strong demonstration of civic courage” in support of freedom in Venezuela.

The Cuban exile urged the international community to take urgent measures to “isolate” the Venezuelan regime and “recognize” the victory of the opposition led by Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado in the presidential elections.

“The free world must move quickly and take all possible actions (against the Venezuelan regime) in terms of economic and political sanctions to isolate it,” Gutierrez stressed.

Among the panelists present at the press conference were Ernesto Ackerman, from the IVAC organization; the Cuban exile leader Roberto Azcoy, coordinator of the Union for Free Cuba; and María Teresa Morín, coordinator abroad of Machado’s Vente Venezuela party.

The event featured a video made by Cuban citizens from towns on the island who declared their support for González Urrutia and Machado.

In the video recorded in Cuba, activists can be heard shouting “against the electoral coup” carried out in Venezuela that gave victory to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and advocating for “freedom and democracy” in the South American country and the “freedom of Venezuelan political prisoners.”

The panellists stressed the need to “continuously and permanently support the struggle in countries that are victims of communism”: Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Machado today assumed responsibility for the publication of electoral records that, according to her, prove the “resounding defeat” of the president, Nicolás Maduro, who was proclaimed winner of the presidential elections of 28 July.