For a brief moment on Sunday, people in the Venezuelan diaspora felt a surge of hope.

As I drove around Washington, D.C. running errands, the radio played reports showing that the opposition was pulling way ahead of authoritarian president

Nicholas Maduro's party. At a stoplight I pulled up behind a scooter. The driver

was flying a Venezuelan flag. She'd made a sign saying

Venezuela is free today, but her optimism was premature.

Within a matter of hours, Venezuela's electoral authority declared Maduro the winner.

The Truffo, of the independence, national, of the dignity,

that the Uphuano of Venezuela.

Members of the opposition cried foul.

Sabbing what was passed in Venezuela and the form

as the people vote for a cameo.

That's the opposition's most popular leader Maria Corina Machado.

She called the results a gross disregard and violation of popular sovereignty.

We won and the whole world knows it, she told reporters.

The U.S. and other international observers have questioned the integrity of the elections.

Here's Secretary of State Antony Blinkin speaking from Tokyo Sunday night.

We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will

nearly a quarter of Venezuela's population has left the country since Maduro took power 12 years ago

even though Venezuela sits on massive oil reserves, the country's economy has imploded in the last decade.

Consider this.

Many Venezuelans who left their country hoped that this week would mark the start of a new chapter.

Instead, they're left wondering whether the future will be any better than the past. From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro.

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