- The information was released by the mayor’s wife, Vanessa Linares de Ramírez. So far it is unknown how much the sentence is | Photo: EFE
The mayor of the Maracaibo municipality (Zulia), the opponent Rafael Ramírez Colina, was deprived of liberty as reported this Saturday, October 5, by his wife Vanessa Linares de Ramírez.
(…) Rafael was deprived of his defenders, which is contrary to due process and the legitimate right to defense established in our Constitution and laws and that he deserves as a human being, demonstrating once again that it is an act of political persecution,” he wrote on his X account.
De Ramírez explained that a hearing was held at the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) in Maracaibo where “illegally” they decreed the deprivation of liberty of her husband and other detainees.
Likewise, he pointed out that no one has been able to see him or know what condition he is in. It is also not known how much the sentence was imposed on him.
The complaint
Rafael Ramírez was arrested by alleged Sebin agents on October 2 and, the next day, the Public Ministry indicated that he would be accused of “serious irregular acts” related to corruption.
According to a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, Ramírez Colina and “other collaborators” will be presented before a court to “be charged with the serious irregular acts attributed to them,” based on “sufficient elements of conviction and reliable evidence” collected in “ investigations carried out in coordination with the National Anti-Corruption Police.”
The MP pointed out that a prosecutor specialized in the matter “is processing several complaints against officials assigned to the Maracaibo Mayor’s Office for crimes provided for in the catalog of criminal types of the Anti-Corruption Law.”
According to sources from the Mayor’s Office, the general director of citizen security of Maracaibo, David Barroso, and two members of Ramírez Colina’s security team were also arrested.
The arrest of Rafael Ramírez occurred days after the arrest of the mayor’s chief of staff, Pedro Guanipawho is also the brother of the Primero Justicia leaders Juan Pablo and Tomás Guanipa.
They deny the accusations
The Mayor’s Office of Maracaibo denounced on October 3 that the arrest of its owner was carried out “without any justification or explanation,” for which it demanded his “immediate” release.
The city council called for “respect for the institutions” and “the physical spaces of the municipal public powers”, as well as the “protection of each of the more than 8,000 public servants” of the city.
The opposition party Primero Justicia (PJ) – of which the mayor is a member – demanded his “immediate” release and that of “the other detained officials, as well as the cessation of political persecution.”
In addition, the group noted that the mayor was transferred to the Sebin headquarters, while saying it did not know details about his condition and the reasons for which he was arrested.
For her part, opposition leader María Corina Machado assured that the government unleashed a “wave of terror” in the country with the arrest of the mayor of Maracaibo and three members of his team, as well as a regional coordinator of the anti-Chavista party. all captured on Tuesday.
Ramírez Colina is one of the 154 politicians who, according to Machado’s party (Vente Venezuela), are imprisoned in the country, the majority after being apprehended in the weeks before and after the controversial re-election of President Nicolás Maduro in the elections of the 28th. July, which has not been recognized by many countries.
In these last elections, the mayor supported the candidacy of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, and joined the “legitimate citizen request” that the electoral body “publish the disaggregated results.”
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2024-10-06 12:28:14
