Provea says that presidential elections were marred by “escalation of serious abuses”

The Venezuelan NGO Provea assured this Sunday that the presidential elections of July 28, in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Nicolás Maduro as the winner, were marred by an “escalation of serious abuses” by the nation’s authorities, he said.

“The electoral process of July 28 should serve to open the way to the rescue of democracy and the re-institutionalization of the country, it was marred by an escalation of serious abuses by the Venezuelan authorities,” the organization indicated in a message published in x.

Likewise, he said that the nation’s authorities aimed to “twist the popular will and crush the discontent of the great majorities.”

After the proclamation of Maduro as the winner of the presidential elections in Venezuela, the majority opposition, grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), denounced electoral fraud, which triggered massive protests against the official result, which left 25 dead and more than 2,400 detained, according to authorities.

Provea says that presidential elections were tarnished

The PUD justifies the victory of its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, based on “83.5% of the electoral records” that it claims to have gathered through witnesses and polling station members, and which were subsequently disclosed on a website. , documents that the Government calls “false.”

On September 17, the UN Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela revealed that it was able to confirm that in the first days of the protests over the official result of the presidential elections, at least 158 ​​children were detained and that some of these They suffered from disabilities and were accused of serious crimes, such as terrorism or hate speech.

“This phenomenon is something new and extremely worrying,” said the president of the Mission, Marta Valiñas, in comments to the press during the presentation of the latest report that her team prepared on the situation in Venezuela in the last year.

“Not only have there been no improvements (in human rights), but violations have intensified, reaching unprecedented levels of violence in the post-electoral context,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office of Venezuela accused the Mission of presenting “biased” information and without “details or evidence” that “allows its review” in its latest report.