“The reality is: it sounds like the Americans, they don't understand what's going on inside the country for 27 years.“
Born in Venezuela, Pastor Jose Duran now lives in Holland, Michigan working as the president of Movimiento de Ciudad and director of Latino Networks for the City Leaders Collective. He wrote the public letter now disseminating across social media, representing a group of 40 Venezuelan business and community leaders in West Michigan.
“All the protesting people are from other places, especially Americans, but not one of them are from Venezuela so we decided they need to hear from Venezuela people.”
Duran says many protesters don’t understand the reality of living under the regime, asserting Maduro stole the presidency by force and leads an international drug trafficking organization.
The letter states Venezuelan people would prefer to partner with Americans rebuilding their economy and restoring prosperity, addressing claims the U.S. is only interested in the country’s oil.
“Well, just tell those people that right now for 27 years, China, Russia, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah are taking the oil. They're using for their benefits.”
Duran notes 8 million people have fled the country, framing the struggle as a "human dignity issue" rather than a partisan one.
Read the contents of the full letter here:
------
For a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter.
