Venezuelan authorities arrest five political activists in the last 72 hours for “promoting hatred”

As the day of the presidential elections on July 28 approaches, the situation in Venezuela is tense. Five political activists of the Venezuelan opposition, two of them who also work as journalists, have been detained by the police in the last 72 hours accused of “promoting hatred” in the context of the electoral campaign. Until now, no more specific details are known about the events for which they have been arrested.

The arrests have generated much concern among opponents. They understand that the narrow limits within which they can campaign without being persecuted are unknown. The arrests began with Juan Iriarte, regional coordinator of the Vente Venezuela party (the organization founded by María Corina Machado); youth activist Jean Carlos Rivas, from the Voluntad Popular party, and journalist Luis López, who works for the information portal El Pitazo. All three were taken to prison this weekend. They are all from the coastal state of La Guaira, near Caracas, where a campaign activity was taking place.

This Monday it was learned that Gabriel González, also a journalist from the Vente Venezuela communications team, was later arrested; and Javier Cisneros, youth organization coordinator of the same party. The National Union of Press Workers issued a statement stating that journalist López was detained when he went to cover the arrest of Jean Carlos Rivas, 19 years old, youth leader of Voluntad Popular, from La Guaira. , who was also captured by the authorities surprisingly in the town of Caraballeda. López’s detention was also questioned by the National College of Journalists of Venezuela.

These people had initially been reported missing, according to what opposition leaders denounced, and shortly after it was confirmed that they were released from custody in a procedure by the Investigations Division of the Bolivarian National Police. No political authority of the government or the State has assumed responsibility for these operations.

The presidential candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform – the coalition of opposition forces -, Edmundo González Urrutia, condemned the official attack and stated that the leaders “are detained solely for having accompanied us in the political event we held in Maiquetía.” González Urrutia regretted that, by undertaking the search for these imprisoned politicians, the State security forces “evade their responsibility, pointing to other police forces, and until very recently we did not even know where they were.”

Voluntad Popular, Machado’s party, stated the following in a statement: “We call on the international community to be vigilant in the face of this onslaught. We hold Nicolás Maduro, and the governor of La Guaira, José Terán, responsible for the life, integrity and what may happen to Jean Carlos.” Since the holding of the primary elections on October 22, in which María Corina Machado was elected with an overwhelming majority of votes from the people who want change in Venezuela, a dozen regional and national leaders of her party have been arrested, accused of being part of conspiratorial plots, and expressly taken to jail.

At the end of last year, other political leaders were arrested for harshly questioning the Government on social networks, as was the case of Nelson Piñero, from the Encuentro Ciudadano party. The journalist and political activist Carlos Julio Rojas was also taken prisoner a few weeks ago on accusations of conspiracy. At the same time, other collaborators close to Machado (Magali Meda, Claudia Macero, Humberto Villalobos, Pedro Urruchurtu and Omar González) remain asylum in the Argentine embassy in Caracas after being accused of terrorism and sedition.

A few weeks ago, in an event with his supporters, President Nicolás Maduro accused his adversaries of wanting to assassinate him and alluded, without giving names, to two Vente Venezuela leaders of being behind the maneuver “The regime shows nervousness, it has a degree of desperation very clearly and is making mistakes,” says Machado when commenting on what happened. “Here they have gone so far as to sanction inns that have received us, and to threaten people with whom we have not had contact, looking for those responsible everywhere.” In Venezuela there are currently, according to calculations by the NGO Foro Penal, some 278 political prisoners.

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