SALT LAKE CITY — As the clamoring continues among Venezuelans in Utah against Nicolás Maduro, who says he prevailed in last month's presidential vote despite the loud cries of his critics and leaders from around the world, they warn of another influx from the South American nation.

A clear majority in the July 28 elections voted for opposition presidential hopeful Edmundo González, some 7 million Venezuelans, says Norely Lopez, an expatriate Venezuelan in Utah who's part of a global contingent pressing against Maduro from outside the country. If he stays in power despite calls for him to recognize González and cede power, she went on, those voters will start leaving the country for the United States and other countries.

"That's a big problem," she said, noting the 7.7 million or so Venezuelans who have already fled the country to get away from Maduro's authoritarian rule, more than a half million of them to the United States. "We'd become a bigger burden to those governments, and I don't think any government is going to like to have to keep taking on a problem that isn't theirs."

Patricia Quiñonez, of Utahzolanos, an online business, news and social group focused on Utah's Venezuelan community, said many in the country are waiting out the post-election period to see who remains in power. If González is denied the presidency despite what the opposition, the U.S. government and many other international observers say was his victory, they may keep up the exodus.

"People are waiting for the results to decide if they stay or if they leave. Many have already done it — they've had to leave," said Quiñonez, who herself fled Venezuela eight years ago due to what she said was political persecution. "I think they'll come here to the United States (and) to Colombia, of course, because they can get there by foot."

Even without another influx, the presence in Utah of Venezuelans and other Latino immigrants, most notably those who crossed into the country illegally, is already a sore point for some, worried they're sapping U.S. resources. Meantime, the Venezuelan community in Utah, across the country and around the world has been vocal in pushing for recognition of González as the winner of July 28 elections. Some 400 members of Utah's Venezuelan and Venezuelan American community demonstrated Saturday at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City to press the issue, the third such gathering in Utah.

Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, who has met previously with representatives from Utah's Venezuelan community on the election issue, offered words of support at Saturday's gathering.

"Your country needs your voice, so thank you so much for that," he told the crowd. "Know that we hear you here. We understand what's happening in Venezuela. We want to stop the tyranny there and to stop the tyranny here, so your voices help us understand what we're up against."

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Owens' backing notwithstanding, Lopez, who took part in Saturday's gathering, knows some in the United States view the Venezuelan issue as a matter to be resolved by Venezuelans, not Americans. "But we've reached the point at which Venezuelans haven't been able to resolve the problem because the government has the weapons," she said Monday.

Some 1,500 opposition leaders in Venezuela have been jailed since the presidential voting, and 20 or so others have died in violence. "We know there are 74 conflicts around the world, but what we want as Venezuelans is to keep the focus on Venezuela. We want the repression to stop and the international organizations to act and stop the violence of the (Maduro) regime and the human rights violations," Lopez said.

Quiñonez said it's hard for Venezuelans in the United States to ignore the issue.

"It's pretty much impossible to be indifferent because it's still our country and we have loved ones there," she said.

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