Transparency International rejects arrests of opposition members during the electoral campaign in Venezuela

• The president of the organization pointed out that all Venezuelans have the right to freely elect the next president.

Francois Valerian, president of Transparency International, has condemned the arrests of opposition leaders by state security forces during the electoral campaign in Venezuela.

He also condemned the harassment of civil society and the opposition ahead of the presidential elections on 28 July.

Through his X account, Valerian also pointed out that the “active mobilization of government entities” should not be part of the political campaign.

“Venezuela has the right to freely elect a president,” Valerian said on July 17.

The message shared by the president of Transparency International was a response to a publication by Transparencia Venezuela, in which they mention the record of 27 cases of misuse of public funds for the campaign of the president, and candidate for reelection, Nicolás Maduro.

“Public bodies and officials have been campaigning for elections through institutional social media. Other public assets have also been used for propaganda,” said the non-governmental organization (NGO) Transparencia Venezuela in a report published on July 17 on its social media.

The association also highlighted four raids on properties and two closures of premises of political and social leaders who have participated in activities of opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.

Photo: EFE/ Ronald Peña

There were also three road closures to prevent the passage of caravans led by González Urrutia and opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Opposition-related arrests

On July 17, it became known regarding the Arrest of the head of protection for leader María Corina MachadoMilciades Ávila. The political party Vente Venezuela denounced that it was an “illegal procedure” and demanded his immediate release.

The day before, Alfredo Romero, president of the NGO Foro Penal, said that they have a record of 301 people detained for political reasons in the country.

Romero stated that at least 102 of the arrests are related to González Urrutia’s campaign team or they were collaborators or opposition leaders within the country.

Another NGO that documented these types of cases is Laboratorio de Paz, which recorded a total of 71 people detained in an “arbitrary” manner during the first 10 days of the electoral campaign leading up to the presidential elections on July 28 in Venezuela.

On July 15, the agency published a report with data from July 4 to 14, in which it highlighted that the detainees were 66 men and 5 women, most of them from Táchira state.

Of the total, 48 of the people arrested were linked to the provision of goods and services for the opposition candidate’s campaign.

Photo: Adriana Núñez / Courtesy

Other recent arrests

On July 14, Foro Penal denounced the Arrest of singer Wilmer Ramón Álvarez Vargasknown as Willy Álvarez, at a Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) checkpoint in Táchira state.

Álvarez is the author of a song to liven up the campaign events of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) and was charged with the crime of resisting authority.

On July 13, the NGO confirmed that three people were arrested in Carabobo state for political reasons. The first two were identified as Elisaul Rodríguez and Miere Eduardo Aguilar, who provided logistics for the truck that transported Machado and candidate Edmundo González Urrutia during the mobilization in the state. The last citizen has not been identified.

For his part, the director of the Penal Forum, Gonzalo Himiob, said that they received the report of the arrest of opposition political activists in Guanare, Portuguesa state.

On July 13, María Oropeza, state coordinator of Vente Venezuela in that entity, reported that police officers raided the home of Mary Rodríguez, campaign director of the Capital Guanare parish.

Rodríguez was arrested along with Mayra Montilla, who is also part of María Corina Machado’s campaign.

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