Venezuelan expatriates make long trek to New Orleans to vote

MIAMI (Reuters) - For the second time in five months, Venezuelan residents in the United States, including many who traveled by bus or flew in from Florida, lined up outside a New Orleans voting center on Sunday to cast ballots in Venezuela's presidential election.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles may be looking for the expatriates vote to boost his long-shot candidacy. But the mood among voters was noticeably less upbeat than the last presidential election in October, when opposition voters held high expectations of defeating former president Hugo Chavez, who died on March 5 before being officially sworn in.

Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, held a solid lead according to pre-election polls, but may not be able to match the ruling party's 10-point margin of victory in October.

"We still have hope, even though this time we are conscious that Capriles most likely won't win," said Becky Prado, 34, a school teacher who paid $75 for the 16-hour bus journey from Miami.

Prado and others complained they were forced to line up in the pouring rain outside a voting station on Sunday morning before being able to cast their ballot.

"It was terrible. There were about 500 of us waiting outside in the rain," she said, speaking by telephone from the French Quarter in New Orleans where the traveling voters had brunch before preparing for the long journey home.

"Everyone is soaked, but our mood is still good because we know we are doing this for the good of Venezuela," she said.

About 30 buses made the 1,725-mile round trip from south Florida, as well as others that departed from Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta, and at least four aircraft carrying 850 voters from South Florida, according to organizers of a get-out-the vote campaign, VotoDondeSea (I Vote Where-ever) Foundation.

About 8,500 Venezuelan expats cast ballots in New Orleans in October, with 99.18 percent of their votes going to Capriles.

Middle- and upper-class Venezuelans, worried about rising crime and shrinking economic opportunities at home, have led an exodus of Venezuelan professionals in recent years.

According to a 2010 U.S. Census, around 215,000 Venezuelans live in the United States, an increase from 91,000 in 2000. A large number live in and around Miami, home to an expatriate community that is overwhelmingly opposed to Chavez.

The long journey from south Florida was made necessary after the Venezuelan government closed its consulate in Miami last year after the consul was expelled over allegations she discussed potential cyber-attacks against the United States, a charge Venezuela has strongly denied.

If elected, Maduro vows he will maintain the socialist policies of "Chavismo" in the oil-rich nation, despite rampant inflation and falling oil production.

(Writing by David Adams; Editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelan-expatriates-long-trek-orleans-vote-181850665.html

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