Márquez: “Táchira was one of the states with the most arbitrary arrests and political persecution”

Human rights defender, president of the El Amparo Foundation and general director of the International Committee Against Impunity in Venezuela (CICIVEN), Walter Márquez, gave an assessment this Friday, July 26, of the incidents that occurred during the electoral campaign in Táchira and assured that it was one of the states with the most arbitrary arrests, political persecution and attacks on the media.

Márquez said that at least 40 people were arrested in the middle of electoral campaign activities, for being political leaders or for working with Ricardo Albacete, a businessman who housed María Corina Machado in Táchira, who was arrested and remains incommunicado from his family and lawyers.

He recalled that among those arrested were 28 workers from the Gurimetal company, who were released hours later; five from the company that offered food and beverage service the night María Corina Machado arrived in Táchira, whose work equipment was also confiscated; businessman Ricardo Albacete, who housed Machado in his house in the town of Palmira, Guásimos municipality; a leader of the Comando con Venezuela in Panamericano, four people who were leaving the opposition march on the day of the start of the electoral campaign, a young man who made a song for the opposition leader and the mayor of the Ayacucho municipality, Yonnhy Liscano.

Added to this is the fact that the mayor of the Antonio Rómulo Costa municipality, Rigoberto Ovalles, had to leave the country due to an arrest warrant against him, and that the other 15 democratic mayors of Táchira were subjected to pressure and threats, which forced them to stop campaigning for the candidate of their choice.

Márquez recalled that four commercial establishments belonging to opposition leaders were also closed, fined and shut down by Seniat, and that the owner of one of them, Francisco Ramírez, who is the regional coordinator of Vente Venezuela, had to take refuge in Bogotá.

Attack on media

Walter Márquez said that there were also attacks on the media in Táchira, when on July 22 the candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Nicolás Maduro, insulted the board of directors of the regional television station TRT, accusing them of being allied with paramilitaries and that they were not broadcasting his event.

He added that on July 24, journalists Luzfrandy Contreras of Noticias Todos Ahora, Mariana Duque of Diario de Los Andes and Lorena Bornacelly of Dossier, were harassed for almost two hours by officials of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) while they were interviewing a Primero Justicia activist.

Later, on July 25, the day of the closing of the electoral campaign, intimidating graffiti appeared on the homes of electoral activists and politicians in the municipalities of Lobatera, Ayacucho and Michelena, which according to Márquez are presumed to be from irregular groups to cause anxiety and prevent the population from going out to vote.

“The latest outrage was last night when they closed the border despite having announced that it would be open with strict controls. They are trying to stop the electoral tsunami that is unstoppable,” he added.

Finally, Walter Márquez reported that the report with all these facts will be sent to the Independent International Fact-Finding Commission of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to the United Nations Human Rights Council, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and to the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it is a crime against humanity, established in Article 7.1 of the Rome Statute.