A group of Venezuelan immigrants gathered Sunday at Willow Fork Park in Katy to draw attention to the victims of an earthquake that struck Venezuela roughly a month ago, calling for international support for devastated communities while sharply criticizing the country’s government over what they described as a woefully inadequate response.
Part of a Global Day of Action
The noon rally, held along Highway 99 at Cinco Ranch Boulevard behind Cinco Ranch High School, was one of demonstrations staged in 10 cities around the world, according to organizers. Participants waved Venezuelan flags and held signs reading “Levántate Venezuela,” meaning Rise up, Venezuela, as they called for humanitarian aid for earthquake victims.
Organizers said they hope the coordinated demonstrations will push governments, relief organizations and members of the Venezuelan diaspora to step up assistance for communities still struggling to recover.
“Everybody Has a Different Way to Help”
For Amalia Kluge, the disaster was personal. She left Venezuela 25 years ago with her three children in search of better opportunities, she said, but her daughter chose to stay behind. Her daughter’s mother in law died in the earthquake, and the family lost nearly everything. The shock proved so severe that the mother in law’s daughter, meaning Kluge’s daughter’s sister in law, was hospitalized for a heart attack just the day before the rally.
“She lost everything,” Kluge said. “But also, her daughter that survived was yesterday in an emergency because she has a heart attack because of everything, the shock of everything and the lack of everything going on.”
Kluge said the event drew people well beyond party lines. While some demonstrators are affiliated with María Corina Machado’s Vente Venezuela party, she said the cause is bigger than politics.
“It’s not just about politics, it’s about communities, about people,” Kluge said. “Any people is welcome to join, and we are here to create that force in that community to send help to our people to support in any way. Everybody has a different way, with music, with messages, with food, with whatever we can help.”
She added that the broader goal is to support a movement that can eventually restore freedom and institutional order to Venezuela. “We have the dignity,” she said, “but recover the freedom, recover the institutionality of the country, and have free elections with the support of the United States.” Kluge said she remains hopeful that change is coming and that the truth about what has happened in Venezuela will ultimately come to light.
A Party Rooted in Decades of Opposition
Vente Venezuela was founded in 2012 by Machado, an industrial engineer turned opposition leader who had already spent years fighting for free and fair elections through the vote monitoring group Súmate. The party describes itself as liberal and democratic, and it has never held seats in Venezuela’s National Assembly, largely because of the restrictions and disqualifications the ruling government has placed on opposition candidates over the years.
Machado herself was barred from running in the 2024 presidential election, but she threw her support behind opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, whose campaign she helped lead to a decisive win in the vote count, according to independent tallies. In October 2025, Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democratic rights in Venezuela. Local organizers like Pape say the party’s Houston chapter has become a hub for Venezuelan expatriates in the area who want to stay engaged in the push for free elections back home.
Organizers Frame Rally as Part of a Larger Political Push
Johanna Pape, representing the Houston chapter of Vente Venezuela, said the Katy demonstration was meant to spread awareness locally as much as internationally.
“We are part of the Houston city organization,” Pape said. “The call to action is also intended for you to share the message with the many citizens in Katy, so that the need for the elections we require in Venezuela right now can continue to be highlighted.”
Pape thanked the U.S. government for its role in recent political developments in Venezuela, saying Machado maintains close ties to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump. She expressed gratitude toward the country for welcoming Venezuelan immigrants and toward attendees and media for supporting the cause.
“We offer our heartfelt thanks to every citizen, and to you, the media, for coming to support this event,” she said. “Without you, we could not spread this message.”
“The Earthquake Is Just Another Exclamation Mark”
Eamonn O’Neill, who is half Venezuelan on his mother’s side, was blunt in his assessment of the government’s handling of the disaster, accusing officials of staging photo opportunities while locals grow increasingly furious.
“The US, along with other countries, have sent so much humanitarian help, and a lot of that help is just going straight to government bureaucrats and not to people,” O’Neill said. He noted that with foreign rescue teams gone, ordinary volunteers are now the ones still searching for bodies. “We don’t have a rescue team. All the foreign rescuers were the ones who were rescuing people, but they’re not there anymore, and we’re still getting people out.”
O’Neill argued the earthquake exposed deeper, decades old failures. He said the government’s seizure of private property has driven away investment and pushed skilled engineers out of the country, leaving Venezuela’s infrastructure unprepared for disaster.
“It’s left the country pretty much naked and exposed to so many disasters and misfortunes,” he said. “The earthquake is just another exclamation mark on it.”
He said the demonstration reflects a boiling point among Venezuelans both at home and abroad, who are demanding new elections and a government capable of investing in recovery.
“Twenty years of the same government, the same system does not work,” O’Neill said. “Venezuela went from one of the richest countries in the Americas to one of the poorest in twenty years. A lot of people are just frustrated, and they want change.”
O’Neill said the Houston chapter of Vente Venezuela organized the rally through Instagram and other social media, drawing a crowd despite the Sunday heat to show support for Venezuela and push for the change they hope to see.