Venezuelan citizens residing in Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas are meeting Saturday in Charlotte to ask US President George W. Bush for special temporary protection for those of them whose visas or refugee statuses have expired.

Elvia Gordils, coordinator of a group called Civil Resistance of Venezuelans Abroad (Recivenex) told Efe that the meeting in Charlotte is part of an effort launched throughout the United States to urge Bush administration to grant special protection to thousands Venezuelans living in the United States, Efe explained.

The meeting will be sponsored by the Organization of Venezuelans in Exile (Orvex) and supported by Recivenex.

"Under President Hugo Chávez Venezuela has become a dictatorship, and if Venezuelans that are residing illegally in the United States or were denied political asylum are forced to return to their motherland, they could be subject to serious reprisals," Gordils declared.

She estimated that over 400 people are to attend the meeting.

"Venezuelans were never emigrants, because before Chávez took office we would go out of the country for leisure only, and then we would go back to our country. However, communism in Venezuela has forced us to leave our motherland," she added.

According to official figures, in North Carolina and South Carolina there are over 10,000 Venezuelans, while in Charlotte the number is almost 3,000.