Arrests of opposition members mark campaign 13 days before elections

The arrests of dozens of opponents mark the campaign in Venezuela, where the authorities have also acted with sanctions such as closing businesses that served dissident leaders on a political tour of the country, or seizing work equipment such as motorcycles, small boats or sound equipment, among others, 13 days before the presidential elections.

The sanctions are based on alleged irregularities in registrations or delays in tax payments, all coinciding with those businesses or people who provided services to the candidate of the largest opposition coalition – Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) -, Edmundo González Urrutia, or to his greatest supporter, the leader of Vente Venezuela, María Corina Machado.

On Monday, non-governmental organizations and members of the PUD warned regarding the increase in political “persecution” in the country, for which they hold the government responsible, while Chavismo insists, amid insults, on blaming its adversaries for alleged violent plans.

The campaign, which began on July 4 and will end three days before the vote, has left 71 people “arbitrarily” detained, all linked to González Urrutia’s candidacy, according to a preliminary report by the NGO Laboratorio de Paz.

In the last 48 hours alone, the opposition and the Penal Forum, the organization that leads the defense of those considered political prisoners in the country, confirmed 11 arrests, including the singer Wily Álvarez, who composed a campaign song for opposition leader María Corina Machado and González Urrutia.

Together with Justicia Verdad Venezuela, and with data from colleagues such as @ForoPenal, @FundehullanVzla y @public spacewe have been documenting human rights violations in the electoral campaign in Venezuela. Preliminary data between July 4 and 14, 2024 #DemocraciaEsDDHH pic.twitter.com/WFpRKjc2MB

— LabPazVe (@LabPazVe) July 15, 2024

Call for peace amid arrests

Without mentioning the arrests, presidential candidate Luis Eduardo Martínez, who defines himself as an opponent, said in X that the “great majority” of Venezuelans want a “peaceful change” through elections, in which Nicolás Maduro will seek a third consecutive six-year term.

For its part, the Movement Towards Socialism condemned the fact that the Executive is using “authoritarian and violent mechanisms to try to prevent the electoral route from developing in a peaceful and calm manner,” and urged “to assume that the end” of the political conflict “will be peaceful.”

Likewise, the Primero Justicia party denounced, in a press release, that the nation is experiencing an “escalation of arbitrary acts” in the midst of the campaign, among which it mentioned “the closure of commercial establishments by the regime,” in reference to businesses sanctioned by the tax agency following serving leaders of the PUD.

In light of all this, the rector Juan Carlos Delpino, one of the five authorities of the National Electoral Council (CNE), called for maintaining a peaceful atmosphere and recalled that arbitrary arrests “violate the exercise of political rights.”

The threat of “hecatomb”

Meanwhile, Maduro, in power since 2013, reiterated that only he guarantees peace in the country, following days of denouncing alleged opposition plans to subvert order and fill the streets with violence, although without providing evidence.

“They are looking for a catastrophe, a tragedy, something strong that will change the course of what will happen in Venezuela on July 28. We have to be on the lookout, with a thousand eyes, a thousand ears,” Maduro said at a campaign event in the state of Bolívar (south, bordering Brazil), in front of a crowd of supporters.

He also repeated that the PUD is preparing to “cry electoral fraud,” but – he assured – they will not allow it, despite the fact that traditional and independent polls give González Urrutia the victory by a wide margin.