There is an uprising in their homeland. Venezuela natives to gather in Sarasota for prayer

Local Venezuelan natives will gather in Sarasota on Tuesday evening for a prayer in support of the military uprising that is underway in Venezuela.

At 7 p.m., Venezuelan natives from Manatee and Sarasota counties will unite in prayer at Marina Jacks, 2 Marina Plaza, Sarasota. Venezuelans took to the streets as Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Tuesday called for a military uprising against the government led by Nicolás Maduro.

“We are supporting Guaidó and hoping this is a successful takeout of the corrupt government,” said Sarasota realtor Beverly Perez.

Perez, 36, was born in Venezuela but moved to Key West at the age of 14. Members of her family have more recently fled the country to places such as Columbia or Spain as conditions continue to deteriorate.

“A lot of them are leaving because its hard,” Perez said.

This is not the first time that Perez and others have gathered in support of their native country. Previously they have gathered on Lido Beach, for example, dressed all in white. In March, a fund-raising event at the Ramada hotel in Sarasota helped raise money and collect donations of baby formula and medicines to send to Venezuela.

Past events have received support from the local Colombian community, as well as non-Hispanics, according to Perez.

Circuit Judge Maria Ruhl, who was also born in Venezuela, has her own family and others in Venezuela in her thoughts as she watches events unfolding in Venezuela.

“It’s just so hard to see such devastation,” Ruhl said during a break from court proceedings on Tuesday morning. “It’s a humanitarian issue. It comes down to desperate times, call for desperate measures.”

Ruhl moved to Miami from Venezuela at the age of 3 with her family. Last year, she made history locally when she became the first Latina to be elected locally as a judge.

Her mother still has family in Venezuela, and keeps her updated on their struggles, she says.

“I hope everything I am reading is true and that (Guaidó ) does have military backing, but people are dying from starvation and getting sick from eating from garbage. It’s really awful,” Ruhl said. “It’s been bad before but never like this. It’s hard to see anyone going through this. But we are in 2019, its very sad to see this suffering.”