Who Won the U.S. Presidential Debate?

Bogota, Colombia – On the night of July 28, Gaby Arellano, a 41-year-old Venezuelan political refugee, watched her country’s presidential election unfold from Colombia’s capital, Bogota.

She expected the outcome to spark a new future for Venezuela. That hope, however, turned to disappointment and frustration when Venezuela's electoral body claimed victory for incumbent President Nicolas Maduro.

The opposition has since accused the Maduro government of stealing the election. And Arellano has become one of the most prominent voices in a protest movement that has spilled beyond Venezuela’s borders, as citizens clamour for transparent voting results.

With nearly 8 million people abroad, the Venezuelan diaspora represents more than one-fourth of the country’s total population — and large swaths of that group have thrown their support behind pro-democracy efforts back home.

Arellano, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has been a leader in those efforts, joining thousands of fellow migrants and refugees in calling on foreign governments to pressure Maduro to release the full voting results.

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