Alejandro Comellas works as an intensive care doctor at the University of Iowa. He said his home country, Venezuela is also in need of intensive care.
Comellas, the Venezuelan-born son of Swiss and Cuban parents, said his native country's leadership has failed the people.
"That regime that rules Venezuela right now is kind of a totalitarian regime and (Nicolás Maduro) is very idealistic, doesn't have morality or a sense of humanity and that creates, really, the conflict that we're having with a high risk of a civil war," Comellas said.
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Locals promote Venezuelan unity and hope
Iowa City's Venezuelan community gathered downtown Sunday to promote unity and hope as millions of natives headed to the polls in South America. About 40 area residents, carrying Venezuelan flags of all sizes and donning hats, shirts, and face paint, came together on the Pedestrian Mall.
In the first Venezuelan election in six years, voters attempted to unseat incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and the country's long-ruling socialist party.
State Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, and his parents, Venezuelan-born immigrants who raised Zabner in Iowa City, were among the attendees.
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Sunday's election was for the Venezuelan community
Comellas, with an eye on the future, compared Venezuela to his ICU patients using a single word − hope.
He said Sunday's rally was a demonstration of shared hope between members of the community who love and cherish their roots but don't support the current ruling party. That party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has included leaders Hugo Chavez and Maduro.
Other Iowa City rally participants said they believed the government was "attempting to manipulate the election" by forbidding as many as seven million Venezuelan immigrants from voting in their home country's election. The New York Times reported in mid-July that millions who have fled the country's economic and social instability have been unable to register to vote.
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"We have seen a lot of our elections, you know, from a distance, and we always have a little bit of hope," Comellas said. "But it's always disappointing. For the first time, we are seeing a lot of communities around the country that used to support the current government actually not supporting them."
On Monday, both Maduro and his leading opponent, Edmundo Gonzalez, claimed they had won the election . Venezuela's election authority announced Maduro's victory early Monday. Independent exit polls had predicted a large opposition win.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Venezuelans rally for unity in Iowa City on Election Day
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