A total of 22 people have been “arbitrarily arrested” since Friday in the context of Venezuela’s electoral process, of which 15 remain in detention, according to a preliminary report published by the NGO Foro Penal.
In X, the vice president of the non-governmental organization, Gonzalo Himiob, said that the whereabouts of some of the detained people are also unknown.
Of the total registered since Friday, the lawyer specified that 11 are people who, in some way, are “linked to opposition political movements.”
As of Friday, Foro Penal had counted 38 people in prison with some kind of connection to the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia, standard-bearer of the largest opposition coalition, and leader María Corina Machado, according to the organization.
On Saturday, González Urrutia’s campaign command reported 20 cases of “intimidation or harassment” and three of “threats” since last Wednesday, warning of an “escalation of political persecution” against activists and members of the opposition.
He denounced “acts of intimidation, threats and harassment” this Saturday against members of the command in three regions of the country, as well as “the siege of the homes” of seven activists in two states and the “raid” of the house of an opposition leader.
“We are alerting the international community that these crimes constitute serious violations of human rights,” he said.
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2024-08-04 20:26:02
