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Venezuela's Interim First Lady: To Save Lives 'We Have To Win This Struggle Soon'

Pedro Portal
/
El Nuevo Herald
Interim Venezuelan First Lady Fabiana Rosales during her visit to Miami on Saturday.

The Red Cross says Venezuela’s authoritarian regime will finally let international aid in to help ease a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. WLRN spoke with the wife of interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó on Sunday during her visit to South Florida to rally support.

Hundreds of Venezuelan expats came to Miami-Dade College’s Doral campus to hear interim Venezuelan First Lady Fabiana Rosales. She urged them and the world to keep up the pressure to get more food and medicine into Venezuela – where basic necessities are desperately scarce and millions more people are leaving.

The U.S. and 54 other countries recognize Rosales’ husband Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s real president. They hope to oust dictatorial socialist President Nicolás Maduro, who is widely blamed for Venezuela’s suffering. Rosales told WLRN the Red Cross move means he acknowledges his disaster.

“The illegitimate regime in Venezuela has inflicted this violence on people there for years," Rosales said. "The fact that the regime finally admits that now will just further weaken it.”

Rosales, whomet President Trump at the White House last week, helped collect humanitarian aid at South Florida warehouses over the weekend. She’s felt the consequences of Venezuela’s collapse: she says her father died six years ago due to lack of medicine; a young cousin died this year for the same reason.

“I worry we’re going to keep losing more lives in my country if we don’t win this democratic and humanitarian struggle soon,” she said.

Despite the international pressure, Maduro still appears firmly entrenched in power. A big concern is whether he’ll move to arrest Guaidó.

Rosales said the arrest of Guaidó's chief of staff, on March 21, "only strengthened my husband's resolve."

Tim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida. Contact Tim at tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
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