CALGARY- "To this date Venezuelan consular officials in the
newly opened Venezuelan Consulate in the city of Vancouver have not opened the
Register of Electors (RE). The Venezuelan RE will be closed on April 15 of this
year. Time is running out to thousands of Venezuelans who are able and willing to
register to exercise their rights to vote in the upcoming presidential election
in Venezuela."
This was explained by a group of Venezuelan citizens that are
residents in the western Canadian provinces who expressed concerns about the flagrant
violation of basic rights contained in the Venezuelan constitution. Any
Venezuelan national, a situation similar to most countries, when living outside
the country, must be granted the right to register and vote in presidential
elections. This is typically done at Consular or Embassy offices in the
resident country. This is the case for the Eastern provinces of Canada, where
Venezuela has consular offices in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. However, in the
recently opened consular offices in Vancouver, the RE has not been opened, and “we
are confident this has not been done due to the fact that the Venezuelan
government knows that the largest concentration of Venezuelan nationals are
living in the Western Provinces of Canada.” According to the Venezuelan
Constitution, any Venezuelan older than 18 years of age at the time of the
elections should be granted the right to register to vote and vote. The
upcoming presidential elections will be held on October 7, 2012.
Opposition leaders are encouraging Venezuelan citizens living
abroad to register in the RE. More than 600,000 Venezuelans able to vote are
living out of the country.
The Venezuelan government opened its Vancouver Consular offices
last April 2011, since then, they had being providing various consular services
to Venezuelan citizens residing in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia
and Saskatchewan. In October 2011 the RE reopened in Venezuela and other
consulate offices in the World, however, the Venezuelan Consulate in Vancouver has
yet to open it. There is an estimate that there are 6,000 Venezuelan families in
the three Western Canada provinces.
Last February 24, 1,244 Venezuelan citizens residents of Alberta
and British Columbia, delivered a signed petition letter addressed to the
National Electoral Board of Venezuela, with copy to the Venezuelan General
Consul in Vancouver and the Venezuelan Embassy in Ottawa, requesting the
Register of Electors to be opened immediately.
"Our demand is simple, we want to, as Venezuelan citizens,
participate in the coming October 7 general elections. It is the responsibility
of the Consulate in Vancouver to open immediately the RE before the April 15
deadline, otherwise they are violating our civil and
political rights” they added.
______________________________________________________________________________
For more information please contact:
Western Canada Venezuelan Union – venezolanosoestecanada@gmail.com
Lino Carrrillo – Fort
MacMurray – (780) 215-5824
Gabriela Sepulveda –
Vancouver – (604) 273-6565
Pedro Cones – Edmonton
– (780) 719-4898
Josue Ramirez –
Calgary – (403) 796-9958
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