Crisis in Venezuela spurs area petitions - Expatriates here join drive to force a presidential election

www.democratandchronicle.com By Dolores Orman Democrat and Chronicle

Victoria Heredia of Pittsford, a native of Venezuela, is pressing for new elections there. [Day in Photos] (February 17, 2003) — PITTSFORD — A Pittsford woman is among Venezuelans locally and throughout the world involved in efforts to oust that country’s president, Hugo Chavez. Victoria Heredia collected signatures locally as part of a “Great Sign-Up” effort on Feb. 2 that was sponsored by Chavez opposition leaders in Venezuela. A Pittsford resident for th e past 21/2 years, Heredia, 37, said she also hopes to help organize a local support group of Venezuelans. “I feel very attached emotionally to my country,” she said. “All my family and my husband’s family live there.” Chavez’s opponents are pushing for a free election to allow Venezuelans to decide if they want him to stay in office. “We want Venezuelans to vote and decide what we want to do with our country before a civil war starts,” said Heredia. About two weeks before the petition-gathering, she decided she wanted to participate. She joined one of the major anti-Chavez Venezuelan organizations in the United States so she could collect signatures. She got 11 and forwarded them to a collection point in Miami. “I feel I have helped the situation,” Heredia said. “I wish I were there to help more. Being outside, we can still do many things for our country.” She already has an idea. “We may start to create in Rochester (an organization) as a way of helping over there,” said Heredia, a former adjunct professor of management information systems at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the mother of triplets. Liliana Carrano of Penfield and her husband were among those who signed Heredia’s petition. “We hope that it does help to go to (an) election,” said Carrano, 37. “That is our weapon and our signature -- that we do have.” Centers for the petition effort were in such major cities as Madrid, Amsterdam and Toronto. Maria Martinez-Campos, 34, and her husband traveled to Toronto to sign up. The Hilton couple arrived at 11:45 a.m. at a Venezuelan restaurant where signing was to begin at noon. “We were the first ones (to sign up),” Martinez-Campos said. “It was wonderful. You feel that you are doing something for your country.” She said she later learned that more than 300 people had signed the petition at the restaurant. E-mail address: dorman@DemocratandChronicle.com