Portuguese government demands prompt release of opposition leader Williams Dávila

The Portuguese government demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of the opposition leader / Photo: EFE

The Portuguese government, led by conservative Luís Montenegro, demanded on Friday the “immediate and unconditional release” of opposition leader Williams Dávila Barrios, arrested on Thursday during a demonstration in the capital of Venezuela.

The Portuguese Foreign Ministry announced this on its profile on the social network X, where it wrote that Dávila, “with Portuguese nationality, was arbitrarily detained and in poor health.”

The ministry also called for the release of other detained political opponents, “guaranteeing freedom of political demonstration and democratic transparency, in close contact with the States of the region and with the partners of the European Union.”

Former opposition member of the Venezuelan Parliament, Williams Dávila, was arrested on Thursday night after participating in a demonstration in Caracas in favor of the release of those he considers political prisoners, criminal lawyer and human rights defender Rafael Narváez told EFE today.

The lawyer said that, so far, he does not know in which detention center the anti-Chavez former deputy, a member of the Democratic Action Party (AD), is being held, and recalled that he underwent heart surgery last November.

The Venezuelan Electoral College (CNE) declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of the presidential elections on July 28, with more than 51% of the votes, over his main opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).

Twelve days after the elections were held, the CNE has not published the minutes certifying Maduro’s victory, as required by law, and has left the process of “certifying” the official result in the hands of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), at the request of the president.

The victory is questioned by the Venezuelan opposition and by a sector of the international community.

Lisbon / EFE