Representatives in Florida of the Board of Democratic Unity (MUD), an organization that brings together Venezuela’s main opposition parties, said they’ll go ahead with the primary elections scheduled for Feb. 12, which will select the opposition candidate who will face Chávez in October.

“We confirm that the primaries in Miami, Georgia and the two Carolinas will be held on Feb. 12,” said Pedro Mena, executive secretary of MUD in Miami.

“The best reaction against this absurd measure of retaliation, which actually punishes only the Venezuelans who live in these states, is to vote massively on Feb. 12 […] We [MUD] assume the responsibility for organizing and carrying out this vote,” he said.

Expressions of repudiation were issued by the Miami-Dade and Broward boards of directors of Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, who said in a communiqué that the measure tramples the rights of the Venezuelan citizens who live in the United States.

“This will have very serious consequences for Venezuelans who live in these states, because they’ll be unable to do their legal business in this country. As everyone knows, for Venezuelan citizens to enter this country, they now need documents other than their passports, such as their Proof of Life,” or background checks.

José Colina, president of Politically Persecuted Venezuelans in Exile (VEPPEX), lamented that his compatriots in the United States will end up being harmed by the espionage operations begun by Chávez in the United States.

Colina, whose organization participated last month in a demonstration outside the consulate rejecting Acosta’s actions, said the measure also serves to withdraw SEBIN operatives who work in the consulate, before they can be investigated and expelled from the U.S.

“They do this to hide what they’re doing. But the only people harmed are the Venezuelans who live in the diplomatic jurisdiction, who are now left without representation and will have no place where to do their paperwork,” Colina said from Miami.