Representatives of the Chattanooga State Cultural Ambassadors and International Achievers initiative invites the public to join in a peaceful march to express solidarity with Venezuela’s pro-democracy movement on Sunday, at the Frazier Avenue end of the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge, at 2 p.m. Participants are encouraged to wear white, to signify peace, bring ?ags and posters with messages of support for Venezuela in this time of crisis.
“Last week after receiving calls from more than 30 local Venezuelan-Americans who shared the situation that their families are facing back in their home country, we coordinated a meeting for a group picture that took place at Coolidge Park on Saturday, at noon, we had more than 50 people and their entire families there and took pictures in solidarity to our local cultural representatives from Venezuela” said Gladys Pineda-Loher, director of International Community Outreach at Chattanooga State Community College.
Venezuelans have been organizing peaceful protests for the past several weeks while the government responds with violence.
All over the world this past week, people have shown their support by organizing similar peaceful rallies.
“The purpose of the march in Chattanooga is to create awareness of the situation and to demonstrate solidarity to the people who face violent suppression by the Venezuelan government,” said Zary Colón one of the Cultural Ambassadors coordinating the event.
Eda Walldorf, also a Cultural Ambassador said, “It is our turn to validate those in Venezuela who have been stripped of the basic freedoms of speech, press, assembly... the basic rights of life; we have a chance to expand our worldview and assert that our world is bigger. In our participation, we can help our children understand that this too matters.”
If you are interested in taking part in the march, please contact Zary Hernández Colón at the event in Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/q3ewmoj
To learn more about or become involved with the march, contact zarycolon@gmail.com or pineda.loher@gmailcom.