- Foro Penal denounced a pattern of persecution once morest local campaign leaders and logistics collaborators of the Comando con Venezuela. Among the most recent cases is the arrest of activist Freddy Cimino and trade unionist Régulo Reina.
Venezuela’s presidential elections have been marked by a wave of persecution and repression by state security forces. Since the start of the campaign on July 4, 80 people have been arrested for collaborating with the activities of candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and opposition leader María Corina Machado. Although the total number of arbitrary arrests so far in 2024 is more than 105.
Precisely Penal Forum had shared a report on July 16 102 arrests related to the opposition campaign were recorded. However, in the following 48 hours, three new forced disappearances were recorded, raising the number.
At the time, the organization pointed out that the pattern of these arrests focuses on activists of the Comando con Venezuela, especially campaign leaders in the interior of the country, as well as militants of political parties of the Unitary Platform. It has also been extended once morest citizens who have provided services or helped González Urrutia and Machado. Such has been the case of drivers and sound equipment managers, motorcyclists, fishermen or businessmen who have given them shelter.
He noted that of the total for the year, at least 70 people have already been released within a few hours of their arrest, others released on precautionary measures. However, there is still a group that remains in the cells of different security and intelligence agencies, many of them without complying with due process or having contact with their families or lawyers.
This constitutes a serious and very clear, very evident indication that a systematic and generalized scheme of restriction is being carried out by those in power once morest citizens (…), based on the specific identity of a group of citizens (…) who identify with the political option proposed by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González,” said the director of the Penal Forum, Gonzalo Himiob.
Recent cases
On July 18, two forced disappearances were reported in different parts of the country. The first was Freddy Cimino, Coordinator of Organization of the Voluntad Popular (VP) party in Miranda state. On its X account (formerly Twitter), the party stated that the activist was approached the night before by unidentified officials while he was traveling in his vehicle in the La Macarena urbanization, in Los Teques.
Witnesses said that Cimino was put in a patrol car marked as Civil Protection. His vehicle later appeared at the headquarters of the Division once morest Organized Crime (DCDO) of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) in Caracas. The national coordinator of VP, Adriana Pichardo, indicated that Cimino was a member of the Command with Venezuela in Altos Mirandinos and at the time of his arrest he only had in his car packages of flyers and electoral cards that he had collected for the campaign.
“At no time should they (the authorities) now think of presenting drugs or weapons or anything else they want to mount once morest Freddy Cimino,” he warned.
Likewise, that same day, former deputy María Gabriela Hernández published a video in which officers from the Monagas Police can be seen taking union leader Régulo Reina into custody in the Libertador municipality of that state. She noted that days before, the worker from the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) had participated in an act of support for Edmundo González.
More arrests
These two arrests are added to that of Head of Maria Corina Machado’s security team, Milciades AvilaThe Vente Venezuela movement reported her disappearance on July 17, also by unidentified officials, just as the opposition leader was touring the state of Portuguesa. “Maduro has made violence and repression his campaign,” it wrote.
After being brought to court on July 18, Ávila was released on bail. Machado had previously linked her arrest to an alleged complaint of “gender violence” by a group of pro-government officials who tried to attack her on July 13 while she was having lunch with Edmundo González at a restaurant in La Encrucijada, Aragua state. The restaurant was closed days later by order of the National Integrated Service of Customs and Tax Administration (Seniat).
“Ávila has accompanied me around the country and has risked his life to defend me,” Machado said. He added that the entire incident in Aragua was planned in order to undermine his security team in the days leading up to the election. Something that was confirmed days later with the attack on his vehicle in Lara state.
On July 14, the Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party reported the arrest of its president in the state of Monagas, Ángel Aristimuño. His arrest was recorded on video, which indicates that he had an arrest warrant issued by Judge Erick Ferrer on July 8, although without specifying the crimes he is accused of. The leader was the campaign manager for the opposition in Monagas, where he was organizing a visit by Edmundo González.
Against the parties
On the same day of Aristimuño’s arrest, the coordinator of Vente Venezuela in Portuguesa, María Oropeza, reported the arrest of her campaign director in Guanare, Mary Rodríguez, and Mayra Montilla, in an operation by different security forces in which they raided several homes. This was in the context of Machado’s visit to that city, in which they also detained the sound and stage managers.
With this, Machado indicated that there are more than 24 Vente militants arrested during the campaign. Among the most recent are Denis Martínez, coordinator of the party in Anaco (Anzoátegui). Since January, the party’s campaign chiefs in the states of Barinas, Trujillo, Yaracuy and Vargas have also been detained, as well as its national coordinator of Organization, Henry Alviárez, and its national political coordinator, Dignora Hernández.
For her part, Adriana Pichardo indicated that, in addition to Cimino, there are also two other political prisoners from Voluntad Popular. The first is Jeancarlos Rivas, a 19-year-old youth activist, arrested on June 14 in La Guaira by regional police officers and currently held at the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) in El Helicoide.
The second is Aldo Rosso, head of VP in the El Valle parish of Caracas. The 69-year-old social activist was heading to the Caravan for the Freedom of Edmundo González in Caracas on July 4 when he was approached by officials. A similar situation also occurred with the head of the orange tent in the Plaza municipality of Miranda state, Ignacio Monique, when he was leaving for the same march from Guarenas. He was released days later.
Collaborators
One of the most common practices by the ruling party is to attack citizens, regardless of whether they are members of political parties or not, just for supporting the campaign logisticsThis has not only been limited to several-hour detentions of drivers transporting Machado or carrying sound equipment, but has also involved the closure of the hotels where he has stayed and the restaurants where he has eaten by Seniat officials.
One of the most recent cases is that of businessman from Tachira, Ricardo Albacete Vidal, who months earlier had given Machado a truck and had lodged her in his house during her visit to the municipality of Guásimos. He was arrested in Caracas by SEBIN officials on July 11 and while he was in a situation of enforced disappearance, raids were carried out on his warehouses, where they also arrested .
Later, Attorney General Tarek William Saab confirmed the arrests of Albacete and Aldo Rossolinking them both to an alleged plan to sabotage the electrical system. This is based on alleged “strategic materials” found in the businessman’s warehouses.
Another case was that of singer Wilmer “Willy” Álvarez Vargas, a Venezuelan migrant in Colombia who went viral on social media for publishing two songs dedicated to Machado. He had returned to the country to visit his family in Barquisimeto (Lara) and vote in the elections, when on July 11 his disappearance was reported at a checkpoint in La Pedrera, Táchira. After three days he was brought to court, where he was charged with “resisting authority.” Two guarantors were required as a requirement for his release.
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2024-07-19 05:44:58
