Paraguay condemns the arrest of the legal advisor of the largest opposition bloc in Venezuela

The Paraguayan government on Wednesday condemned the arrest, which it called “illegal,” of lawyer Perkins Rocha, legal advisor to the main opposition coalition in Venezuela, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

“We reject the persecution of opposition leaders and demand respect for the fundamental rights of people,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Asunción posted on its account on social network X.

Paraguay spoke out a day after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado denounced Rocha’s arrest.

Through the social network X, Machado said that his “friend and comrade in arms” had been “kidnapped,” referring to the jurist, whom he described as “a just, brave, intelligent and generous man.”

Complaint

The Vente Venezuela Human Rights Committee (VV) – a group led by Machado – said that “unidentified individuals forcibly took” Rocha, who was also a witness for the opposition bloc before the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the presidential elections on July 28.

The party demanded, in X, information about his whereabouts, as well as his “immediate release.”

The governor of the Venezuelan state of Zulia (northwest), opposition leader Manuel Rosales, expressed a similar opinion, demanding the lawyer’s “immediate” release the day before.

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Recently, Rocha stated that Nicolás Maduro “is refusing to accept what all of Venezuela knows,” referring to the victory that the PUD claims its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained in the presidential elections, according to “83.5% of the minutes” that he says he collected from witnesses and table members, documents that the Government describes as “false.”

According to official figures, more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29 – some in demonstrations and others in police operations – while 25 people died in acts of violence that the government attributes to the opposition, while anti-Chavez supporters blame the state security forces, on orders from their superiors.

Asuncion / EFE