They reported that groups took over opposition buses in Zulia

• “They won’t let us move forward,” said one of the people who was in the unit while filming without the alleged members of the armed organization noticing. Main photo: reference The Americas Newspaper

On July 23, social media users reported that a group of alleged colectivos forced the occupants of a bus that was heading to the closing event of the campaign of opposition candidate Edmundo González in Maracaibo (Zulia) to leave the bus.

“They won’t let us move forward. They took our buses away. This is the Venezuelan dictatorship,” said a user who recorded a video without the alleged members of the armed organization noticing.

IN SAN FRANCISCO THEY ARE DROPING US OFF TO AVOID ATTEND THE CONCENTRATION IN MARACAIBO. THEY TOOK OUT THE BUSES, THREATENING TO TAKE AWAY PHONES AND ARRESTING THEM @ConVzlaComando @Juliococo #MARACAIBO pic.twitter.com/aCXAEI6gEJ

— Jesús Sánchez (@Jesuswtf) July 23, 2024

The bus was intercepted while traveling from the municipality of San Francisco to the capital of Zulia state. Apparently, the driver remained in the bus while the hooded men occupied it.

Arrest of people who were going to the closing of the campaign in Maracaibo

The Vente Venezuela coordinator in Zulia state, Gustavo Ruiz, reported the arrest of six people and the seizure of two trucks that were going to be used for the activity of the candidate Edmundo González and María Corina Machado in Maracaibo.

“We must inform that the two trucks have just been detained. One is where the sound system that was going to be used was located. And the other is the one that was used to transport both the candidate Edmundo González and the leader (María Corina Machado),” said Ruiz.

Ruiz said that Machado, who is banned from flying in the country, “has had a whole series of problems along the way” from Caracas to Maracaibo, some 520 kilometers away by road.

The EFE news agency confirmed that former ambassador González Urrutia was able to arrive in Zulia state via a commercial flight.

Photo: Vente Venezuela

Nearly 80 arbitrary arrests during the electoral campaign

The non-governmental organization (NGO) Peace Laboratory published a balance sheet on July 20 in which it recorded a total of 76 arbitrary arrests in the middle of the electoral campaign in Venezuela by said organization.

Through X, the NGO warned of an “increase in state political violence,” “arrests” and the “judicialization of the right to political participation,” as well as the “blocking and attacks on media and organizations that defend freedom of opinion and expression.”

Of the total number of arrests recorded between July 4 and 19, 38 were in Táchira state, according to the Peace Laboratory, which also collects data from other organizations. The organization did not specify whether any of these people were released.

The NGO also indicated that, in the first 15 days of the campaign, it recorded 28 cases of “harassment” – a dozen of them, it said, by agents of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) -, six “physical or psychological attacks”, 20 cases of “retaliation for providing goods and services to candidate campaigns” and four “cases of attempted retention of property”.

Ricardo Albacete Vidal. Photo: taken by X / @Omar_moratosta

On the other hand, there were 13 cases of “violation of freedom of expression and information” and five “blockages of information verification sites and websites”, while “proselytizing propaganda in favor of the official candidate (President Nicolás Maduro)” was observed on portals and “social networks of public institutions”.

The Peace Laboratory recalled that competitive and legitimate political participation “requires the cessation of practices that threaten the full exercise of freedoms that guarantee that people can peacefully express, assemble and manifest their preferences and future options in electoral campaigns.”

He therefore called for “allowing a campaign with real guarantees of competitiveness” and for “the cessation of arbitrary arrests,” as well as “respecting and guaranteeing full conditions for political expression and participation.”

With information from EFE.

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