They call to move up free elections
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The coalition also reiterated the call for the creation of a governing junta to lead the transition.
By Efecto Cocuyo
HAVANA TIMES – A group of workers, retirees, and pensioners gathered this Wednesday, July 8, at Plaza Venezuela to march toward the US Embassy in a protest organized by the National Union Coalition. The demonstrators once again demanded an end to the interim government and the holding of free and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections.
At the rally, demonstrators argued that the constitutional deadline had expired on July 2, for declaring the absolute vacancy of the presidency, six months after the capture of Nicolas Maduro. The march, held amid the rain that fell over Caracas around midday on Wednesday, did not reach the diplomatic mission. Instead, it was diverted to the front of the Marriott Hotel in El Rosal, Chacao municipality, where US officials have been staying for several months.
Jose Patines, a leader of the National Union Coalition and one of the march’s main spokespersons, declared: “We are demanding that the United States Embassy comply with the electoral timetable, because we want free and genuine elections, both parliamentary and presidential.”
Patines also stressed the need for a genuine political transition. “Either we move toward a real transition, or we will remain in the streets.”
Also participating in the demonstration was attorney Blanca Rosa Marmol, an emeritus justice of the Supreme Court, who took an active role and reaffirmed her position on the country’s institutional crisis.
“The interim government is over. The citizens are in command. Sovereignty resides in the people.” The former justice insisted that “on the second of this month that deadline expired, and since then Venezuela has had no president.” She also reiterated her call for the formation of a governing junta through citizens’ assemblies to advance the transition, secure the release of political prisoners, and organize elections with full guarantees.
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