Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, rival of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election, urged him on Saturday to stop “violence and persecution” against demonstrators who came out to protest amid allegations of fraud.
“Mr. Nicolás Maduro, I call on you on behalf of all Venezuelans to stop the violence and persecution and immediately release all compatriots arbitrarily detained,” González Urrutia said in a video posted on his social media.
“Demanding that our Constitution be complied with is not a crime, peacefully protesting to enforce the will of millions of Venezuelans is not a crime, acting as an electoral witness, taking care of the records and making them public is not a crime,” stressed González Urrutia, a discreet diplomat who replaced the disqualified opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Maduro himself, who refers to the protesters as “terrorists,” has said there are more than 2,200 people arrested following the post-election protests.
“It is a crime to disappear, persecute, imprison and unjustly condemn hundreds of innocent citizens; it is a crime to savagely repress peaceful protesters,” added the opposition leader who claims to have won the elections with 67% of the votes.
They denounce persecution “at inhuman levels”
Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), denounced on Saturday that political persecution “on an inhuman level” has been unleashed in the country following the July 28 elections that anti-Chavez supporters view as fraudulent.
“In recent days, repression and political persecution have reached inhuman and critical levels, with dozens of teenagers and hundreds of women and men being kidnapped for expressing their desire for change and a better future,” the bloc warned through X.
The coalition was referring to the more than 2,400 arrests that, according to the government of Nicolás Maduro, have been carried out in the last 13 days, in the context of post-election protests, as well as in police and military operations on public roads and searches for people in their homes.
Speaking to El Diario, human rights defender Koddy Campos reported that intelligence elements tried to enter his home, located in the El Carmen sector of La Vega, Caracas, without a search warrant.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, which leads the defense of those considered political prisoners in the country, as of Saturday there are still 1,303 verified arrests, produced in the post-electoral situation, which includes 170 women, 116 adolescents, 14 indigenous people and 16 people with disabilities.
The protests were marked by acts of violence and vandalism, resulting in 24 civilian deaths – according to the NGO Provea – as well as two military personnel deaths and nearly a hundred security agents injured.
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2024-09-03 06:11:47
