Caracas.-At least 23 people have died in Venezuela after a week of protests against the electoral fraud committed by the Nicolás Maduro regime on July 28, according to figures recorded by the Victims Monitor.
The street demonstrations, which began early Monday morning after Maduro was irregularly announced as the winner of the election, have been severely repressed by the regime’s forces.
According to the report by the platform, which draws on independent media, NGOs and hospital reports, at least one of the deceased was a minor and 14 were young people between 18 and 30 years old, five were between 31 and 43 years old and the other three have not yet been determined.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets peacefully since the Chavista regime declared itself the winner of the July 28 elections without showing any kind of support from the numbers that support it. The protests in several states led to acts of violence when the Chavista security forces and the shock groups tried to prevent citizens from demonstrating.
During the course of the week, hundreds of people have been wounded and injured, as well as those who have been persecuted and arrested, who are being accused of terrorism, according to a report by the NGO Foro Penal.
This NGO, which leads the defense of those considered political prisoners in the country, has identified a “clear pattern” in the 1,010 arrests recorded since July 29 until 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Monday, related to the accusation of crimes, among which they also record “incitement to hatred,” said Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the Forum.
The lawyer indicated that, in addition, there is a “pre-qualification of crimes without even having investigated”, since – he explained – these investigations, “in any case, are just beginning”, so “there would not be room yet to evaluate elements of conviction that would allow to say whether it is one crime or another”.
According to Chavista authorities, there are about 2,000 detainees, and in many of the cases that Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported on in X, the people are accused of “terrorism” for their participation in “violent” acts.
According to Himiob, the arrests have been “indiscriminate” and have been carried out “during” and “after” the demonstrations, although there have also been cases of people who “were not even participating” in them.
In this regard, Saab said that, once the corresponding investigations are carried out, those who are proven not to be related to the violence unleashed in the protests will be released, although it is unknown at what point the procedure is, or if some of the detainees have been released.
The vice president of Foro Penal also pointed out that, in “almost all cases”, the presentation hearings have been held “in the same detention centers” where they are detained, and “not in the courts”, and “many” of them by “video call” with the judge.
In addition, “in almost all cases, people have been presented with the public defender imposed on them,” the lawyer added.
The first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and considered number two of Chavismo, Diosdado Cabello, said this Monday that “all the people detained are being presented for acts of terrorism and hate crimes.”
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), Maduro was re-elected with 51.95% of the votes, while the majority opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained 43.18% of the votes, with 96.87% of the votes counted, which have not yet been published.
The main opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – insists that the winner was its standard-bearer, González Urrutia, and bases this on 81.7% of the minutes that it claims to have obtained through witnesses and table members.Infobae.
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2024-08-11 18:14:29
