Arrests of opponents mark campaign in Venezuela – DW – 07/16/2024

Dozens of arrests of opponents marked the electoral campaign in Venezuela, where authorities have also ordered the closure of businesses serving Chavista opposition leaders and other restrictions on political visits to the country, a move the opposition denounced this Monday (07/15/2024) after accusing the government of Nicolás Maduro of an “increase in arbitrariness”.

With 13 days left until the presidential election, NGOs and the largest opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – warned this Monday about an increase in political “persecution” in the country, for which they blame the government, while it insists on imposing alleged violent plans on its opponents, even amid Chavismo humiliations.

The campaign, which began on July 4 and will end on July 28, three days before the vote, has seen 71 people “arbitrarily” detained, all of them linked to the candidacy of rival Edmundo González Urrutia, according to a preliminary report by the NGO Peace Lab.

In the past 48 hours alone, the opposition and Foro Penal, the organization that leads the defense of political prisoners in the country, have confirmed 11 arrests, including that of singer Willy Álvarez, who composed a campaign song for opposition leaders María Corina Machado and González Urrutia.

Arrests and business closures

Primero Justicia (PJ), the formation that supports González Urrutia’s candidacy, rejected “the arbitrary arrests recorded in recent days, the harassment of various opposition political leaders, the acts of violence and the closure of commercial premises by the regime of Nicolás Maduro,” according to a press release quoted by local newspaper El Nacional.

According to the EFE agency, the government has ordered the closure of businesses and other restrictions under the argument of alleged irregularities in records or delays in tax payments, including those that maintain work equipment such as motorcycles, small boats or sound equipment, all co-occurring with business establishments or people who served the PUD presidential candidate or Chavista opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Primero Justicia assured that “the unjust detention of Venezuelans and the persecution of people who supported González Urrutia’s conversion activities” only demonstrate the fear that the Maduresta regime wants to instill in the minds of the majority of Venezuelans who want change.

The Movement Towards Socialism denounces “authoritarian and violent systems”

Without mentioning the arrest, presidential candidate Luis Eduardo Martínez, who defines himself as an opponent, said Nicolás Maduro would seek a third consecutive six-year term.

For its part, the Movement Towards Socialism denounced that the executive is “using authoritarian and violent mechanisms to prevent the electoral path from developing in a healthy peace and tranquility”, to which it urged “to consider the way out” of the conflict as political “that would be peaceful.

Given all this, Rector Juan Carlos Delpino, one of the five officials of the National Electoral Council (CNE), called for a peaceful atmosphere to be maintained and reminded that arbitrary arrests “attack the exercise of political rights.”

Maduro speaks of the “hecatomb”

Meanwhile, Maduro, in power since 2013, after spending days denouncing alleged opposition plans to destroy the system and fill the streets with violence, reiterated that only he guarantees peace in the country, although without showing proof.

“They are looking for a catastrophe, a tragedy, something strong that will change the course of what is going to happen in Venezuela on July 28. We have to be vigilant, thousands of eyes, thousands of ears,” Maduro asked at a campaign event in the state of Bolivar (southern, bordering Brazil), in front of a crowd of supporters.

Likewise, he reiterated that the PUD is preparing to “cry electoral fraud”, but – he assured – they will not allow it, despite the fact that conventional and free elections make González Urrutia the winner by a wide margin.

JC (EFE, El Nacional)