OMM Newsroom
Thousands of Venezuelans rallied in Caracas on Thursday, demanding an official electoral timeline for the 2027 presidential election, the safe return of opposition leader María Corina Machado and the immediate release of all political prisoners, Anadolu Agency reported.
The demonstration was organised by Vente Venezuela and partner parties in the Democratic Unitary Platform. It coincided with the third anniversary of the opposition primary held on Oct. 22, 2023, in which Machado was chosen as the democratic coalition’s candidate.
Machado has been staying in Panama since late May, where she has received support from President José Raúl Mulino. She has made at least seven unsuccessful attempts to return to Venezuela from exile.
The rally was initially scheduled for 4 p.m. local time outside Polar Tower in Plaza Venezuela. It was moved to the Tamanaco Gate at the Central University of Venezuela, also for 4 p.m., after state authorities and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela organised a rival event in Plaza Venezuela.
Opposition youth leaders Carlos Fernández and Henry Alviarez presented the rally, held under the banner “Elections Now” and the slogan “The date of the elections is the date of liberation”. They described it as the opening phase of a renewed campaign of peaceful mass mobilisation. Protests were also held in other cities across the country.
At the same time, supporters of the government gathered in Plaza Venezuela for a state-sponsored “Pink Month” march honouring women and promoting breast cancer prevention. Wearing pink caps and scarves, marchers proceeded along Libertador and Urdaneta avenues towards Santa Capilla, prompting security forces to impose major road closures in central Caracas.
The demonstrations came amid rising social tensions across Venezuela. On Wednesday, the Venezuelan Observatory on Social Conflict, a non-governmental organisation, said it had documented 1,101 protests nationwide in September, averaging 37 a day. Of those, 531 were specifically against severe power outages and persistent failures in public electricity services.
