by Fabiola Sanchez, Regina Garcia Cano
Voters line up before a polling station opens for the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (Associated Press/Matthias Delacroix)
In the working-class Petare district in eastern Caracas, people lined up to vote hours before polls opened.
“In God's name, everything will be fine. Everyone will take their place and it's time for change in Venezuela,” said Judith Cantilla, a 52-year-old domestic worker.
“We are tired,” she said. “Change for me in Venezuela means there are jobs, there is safety, there are medicines in the hospitals, teachers and doctors are well paid.”
Meanwhile, Liana Ibarra, a manicurist in the Caracas metropolitan area, said she queued at 3 a.m. on Sunday with at least 150 people ahead of her.
“My aunt wrote me from the United States at 2 a.m. asking if I was in line yet,” said Ibarra, 35, next to a backpack filled with water, coffee and cassava snacks. “Before, a lot of people were apathetic about the elections, but that's not the case now.”
All of her mother's 11 siblings have emigrated, and Gonzalez said she isn't following them because her 5-year-old son has special needs. But if she doesn't win, she plans to ask relatives to sponsor her and her son to apply to legally immigrate to the United States.
“I can't take it anymore,” she said.
