Foro Penal counted 1,905 political prisoners in Venezuela

• In just one week, 38 new detainees for political reasons were registered, according to data from the non-governmental organization | Photo: EFE / Archive

In Venezuela there are 1,905 detainees considered “political prisoners”, 38 more than last week, when 1,867 people were deprived of liberty for the same reasons, according to information from the NGO Foro Penal released this Wednesday, October 2.

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The NGO specified that, of the total number of arrests, 1,767 were made after the presidential elections of July 28, when a crisis broke out due to the complaint of “fraud” by the largest opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which affirms that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, is the elected president, compared to the official result, which gave re-election to Nicolás Maduro.

The post-election crisis unleashed protests that caused, according to the Executive, 25 deaths and more than 2,400 detainees, a figure that considerably exceeds that of Foro Penal.

Scale of #PoliticalPrisoners in Venezuela as of 09/30/2024 by 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗼 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹:

We have registered and qualified the largest number of prisoners for political purposes known in #Venezuelaat least in the 21st century. We continue to receive and register detainees.

Total prisoners… pic.twitter.com/IaVZCFdeh3

— Penal Forum (@ForoPenal) October 2, 2024

Foro Penal recently explained to EFE that its figures are different from those announced by the authorities because the organization only counts arrests that qualify as “arbitrary”, when – it stated – “there are no elements of guilt” regarding the arrested person.

The Venezuelan government blames the protesters – whom it links to the PUD – for generating “violence” and “vandalism” in several public venues, while the anti-Chavista bloc accuses state security agents of “repression” in the protests.

Since 2014, Foro Penal has registered 17,882 “political arrests”, of which 14 thousand, today released, were assisted “free of charge” by the NGO.

There are more than 150 political leaders detained

The Vente Venezuela (VV) party, led by María Corina Machado, assured this Wednesday that there are 154 detained opposition politicians in the country, including national leaders and people who held elected positions when they were arrested.

Through gave re-election to Nicolás Maduro, which has been questioned inside and outside the country.

Likewise, he assured that there are 34 militants from the Primero Justicia formation imprisoned, 22 from Popular Will (led by Leopoldo López, exiled in Spain), 11 from Encuentro Ciudadano and 10 from Democratic Action (AD).

In addition, the Convergencia, Un Nuevo Tiempo, (the Christian Social) Copei formations and the campaign command of the main opposition coalition – Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which promoted the presidential candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia -, each have four of its members deprived of liberty.

Meda, who has been holed up in the Argentine Embassy in Caracas since March 20, said that these are joined by representatives of other political organizations and 1,713 citizens detained after the elections, after the PUD denounced fraud and assured that its standard bearer won the Presidency, a claim supported by numerous countries.

For this reason, the political head of VV questioned the political dialogue convened by Parliament – controlled by the ruling party -, which hopes to hold a first meeting this Thursday with representatives of the parties, to begin a process of review and adjustment of the electoral laws. ahead of the regional and municipal elections scheduled for 2025.

“The regime calls for an ‘understanding’ with the political parties. Meanwhile, this is how they ‘understand’ each other after Edmundo González Urrutia’s mega-electoral triumph,” said the opponent, in reference to the increase in arrests that occurred after the elections.

With information from EFE

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