Portuguesa (Venezuela), Jul 17 (EFE).- Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Wednesday that there is a social movement of all ages and in all regions of the country for “liberation,” but also for redemption, because – she said – Venezuelans must heal their wounds and rediscover themselves.
“This is a social movement (…) a movement for liberation, but also for redemption, we must heal these wounds and rediscover ourselves as Venezuelans,” he told reporters in the central state of Portuguesa, where he held a campaign rally in support of Edmundo González Urrutia, candidate of the largest anti-Chavez coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
He also denounced that there was an attempt to intimidate or persecute the citizens of Guanare, capital of Portuguesa, so that they would not participate in their activity, but he highlighted “the brave and civic way in which this society has reacted.”
He added that three trucks were “forcibly seized” and the drivers were “detained”, as well as the sound equipment for the event, “so that people would not come, to scare the population.”
“But the opposite happens, it is reversed, people feel more indignant and the response is more firm, more decisive,” he said.
On Wednesday, Venezuelan police officers seized the stage and sound system set up for Machado’s event in support of González Urrutia, according to his party Vente Venezuela (VV), which also reported threats to motorcyclists and merchants by the Chavistas.
According to the party, which demanded “an end to the persecution,” the Chavista campaign – which supports a second re-election of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential elections on July 28 – is based on “violence.”
On Tuesday, the NGO Foro Penal reported that Venezuelan authorities have arrested 102 people linked to González Urrutia’s campaign this year, to which was added today that of Milciades Ávila, former police officer and head of security for Machado’s team, arrested early this morning for alleged “gender violence once morest women” who last Saturday “tried to attack” the anti-Chavez activist and the candidate.
Of the 102 arrests – some for a few hours and others with imprisonment to date – 77 occurred since the formal start of the campaign on July 4, which reflects “a clear pattern of action once morest activists, militants, even collaborators or people who provide their services” to González Urrutia and Machado, said Gonzalo Himiob, director of the Penal Forum.
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2024-07-20 04:06:37
