Maracaibo, Venezuela, May 1, 2019 / 02:39 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop Emeritus of Maracaibo demanded Wednesday the prompt release of peaceful demonstrators who were arrested the day prior during protests against the government of Nicolas Maduro.
Archbishop Ubaldo Ramon Santana Sequera said May 1 on Twitter: “I very much lament the detention of peaceful demonstrators yesterday here in Maracaibo. Among them are Cesar Perozo, an eminent cardiologist of international fame, and other doctors on his team. They should be promptly released.”
The streets of Venezuela were filled with demonstrators April 30 after opposition leader Juan Guaidó urged protests against Maduro, showing a video of himself with soldiers and with Leopoldo López, a fellow opposition leader who had been a political prisoner.
Guaidó declared himself interim president in January and has been recognized by a number of Western governments, but has been largely unable to secure the support of Venezuela's military.
Both supportors and opponents of Maduro have been on the streets in Venezuelan cities since Guaidó's call on Tuesday. The military responded to opponents in violent clashes, firing tear gas, and by arresting peaceful demonstrators.
Maduro said he had stopped an “attempted coup.”
Guaidó has called for continuing protests, and announced a series of strikes beginning May 2.
Under Maduro's socialist administration, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages and hyperinflation leading 3 million to emigrate.
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Polish dancers at the reception following this year’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees Mass at St. Paul’s Parish in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, on Sept. 23, 2023. / Credit: Nicholas Elbers
Vancouver, Canada, Oct 7, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Eastern European floral prints were resplendent next to elaborate Asian headdresses at this year’s Mass celebrating the annual World Day for Migrants and Refugees on Sept. 23 in Richmond, British Columbia.
The event’s attendance was back to pre-COVID numbers, and St. Paul’s Church in Richmond was packed to capacity. An African choir provided music during Communion, and several hundred people attended a post-Mass reception with ethnic food served from many of the cultures present and performances by cultural choirs and dancers.
Attendees at the post-Mass reception with ethnic food served from many of the cultures present and performances by cultural choirs and dancers, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 23, 2023. Credit: Nicholas Elbers
In his homily, Father Richard Zanotti said it’s essential that migrants and refugees don’t get blamed for seeking a life of dignity.
“The universality of the Church is made visible by all of you gathered for this Eucharist, many cultures around one table to celebrate God’s love for us all,” said the Scalabrinian pastor of St. Ann’s, where he works with migrant workers in the Fraser Valley.
The Church teaches us that we all have a right to a life of dignity, replete with basic human needs like food, shelter, medical attention, and dignified work, he said.
Migrants and refugees must not be blamed for seeking a life of dignity, said Father Richard Zanotti at St. Paul’s Church at the Migrants and Refugees Mass in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 23, 2023. Credit: Nicholas Elbers
In his address for this year’s Day for Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis said: “Since the world’s resources are not unlimited, the development of the economically poorer countries depends on the capacity for sharing that we can manage to generate among all countries.”
Until that happens, “many people will still have to emigrate in order to seek a better life, a life worthy of dignity,” the pope said.
Reflecting on the pope’s message, Zanotti said it’s important not to blame migrants and refugees but to look at the world’s responsibility for supporting poor countries so their people don’t feel compelled to leave.
“We pray for the political will to do this in a safe and orderly way,” Zanotti said.
Music minster at Migrants and Refugees Mass in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 23, 2023. Credit: Nicholas Elbers
‘If I was caught, it could mean death’: a refugee’s testimony
As is the custom after the Mass, the audience heard from a Catholic refugee who shared her story of coming to Canada.
This year’s testimony came from an Eritrean woman who shared how she escaped the injustice of her home country. She asked that her name not be published.
A refugee from Eritrea (pictured here with her family) shared her 10-year journey to find freedom at the post-Mass reception following this year’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees Mass at St. Paul’s Parish in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 23, 2023. Credit: Nicholas Elbers
“Thirteen years ago, I decided to leave Eritrea, the country that I grew up in and I loved.
“Under dictatorship, soldiers had put us forever in slavery. Life was unbearable, and we were working unpaid for the government.” One day she went with a friend to a shoe store to buy plastic sandals, she said, “the kind our freedom fighters wore during the 30-year war for independence in my country. I was ready for my journey to freedom in my freedom shoes.”
Medellin, Colombia, Jul 15, 2022 / 16:41 pm (CNA).
Archbishop Ricardo Antonio Tobón Restrepo of Medellín called for the implementation of the “catechumenal itineraries for married life” proposed by the Vatican, including a year-long… […]
Adrián Martínez Cádiz, a news correspondent for EWTN, posted a summons he received from Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior on his Facebook account Oct. 19, 2022. / EWTN News
Havana, Cuba, Oct 21, 2022 / 04:40 am (CNA).
An EWTN correspondent in Havana, Cuba, says he has been summoned by the country’s Ministry of the Interior for interrogation.
Adrián Martínez Cádiz, who only started working with the network on Oct. 12, posted the summons on his Facebook account Wednesday night. EWTN is the parent organization of CNA.
“About 5:55 p.m. a young boy knocked on the door of my house and gave my mother a summons from the Ministry of the Interior for an interrogation … at the Police Station of the Plaza de la Revolución,” Martínez Cádiz wrote.
According to the summons, Martínez Cádiz must appear at 10 a.m. EST on Friday, Oct. 21 before an officer named “Karla” and that, if “does not appear without justified reasons, he will be fined or can be accused of a crime of contempt.”
Queridos hermanos.
Sobre las 5:55 de esta tarde, un muchacho joven tocó la puerta de mi casa y entregó a mi madre una…
Martínez Cádiz asked his followers on social media to “accompany him at that time, from wherever they are, praying Psalm 91.”
That psalm says the following: “You who live under the protection of the Most High God and dwells in the shadow of the omnipotent God, say to the Lord: ‘You are my strength and my refuge, you are my God, in whom I trust.'”
In April 2021, Martínez Cádiz announced that he received death threats from a follower of the Castro regime, who accused him of being too critical of the dictatorship. The subject, who passed by him on a motorcycle, warned him that he would be stabbed, Martínez Cádiz said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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