Log In | Become a Member

Local Venezuelans Call for Peace, Gather Supplies to Send Home

February 24, 2014 | WMFE, Orlando -The impact of violent clashes between Venezuelan government forces and opposition groups is being felt in Central Florida. Now, local Venezuelans are calling for peace- and trying to help their country from afar.

Play Audio Story

Mariet Ostos is a tax adviser who came from Venezuela 14 years ago. Her office is getting a steady stream of people coming in to file their taxes.

But this week, she’s also spearheading a donation drive to send supplies back to Venezuela, where she says food sources are declining.

"Even if they have the money, they can’t get it. There’s nothing, there’s no toilet paper even. There’s nothing,” Ostos says.

The resulting violence from the widespread protests, she and other activists say, is brutal.

“I’ve been shocked. Over and over again. I mean, I really have no expectations to what’s going to come,” says Ricardo Spear.

Just last month, Spear's sister, a UCF graduate and former Miss Venezuela, was murdered while on vacation.

“When I went to the funeral, I kept telling people, I feel like this needed to happen. I felt like something would result of this,” Spear says.

Back at Mariet Ostos’s office, she is waiting for donations of food, medicine, and even walkie-talkies.

When asked how she feels watching the unrest from afar, Ostos immediately tears up.

“I pray so much for my family, my friends, for my country—because it hurts,” Ostos says.

She says that she and other activists will keep working from afar as long as it takes to support the opposition back home.

 

All active news articles