(Caracas) An activist from the “Sale Venezuela” party of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado died Thursday in detention where he had been placed after the disputed re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.
Posted at 2:39 p.m.
“Today, Jesus Manuel Martinez Medina, a member of our team in Aragua de Barcelona, in the eastern state of Anzoategui, died at the hands of the regime,” Machado said on her social media.
Mr. Martinez, 36, died of a heart problem associated with type II diabetes. The day before, his family had denounced the poor condition of a necrotic leg, which had to be amputated.
“One more crime by Maduro and his regime […] He died because of the inhumane conditions in which he was imprisoned. Jesus was arrested without a warrant and without reason, kidnapped for having exercised his rights and his duty as a citizen,” declared Ms. Machado, who had taken refuge in hiding for fear of being arrested.
Mr. Martinez was arrested on July 29, just a few hours after the proclamation of Mr. Maduro’s victory in the presidential election, claimed by the opposition and not recognized by several countries.
He was one of the poll workers sent by the opposition to the polling stations to testify to the legitimacy of the vote. His arrest was considered “political”.
More than 2,400 people were arrested during the post-election crisis which caused the death of 28 people. Attorney General Tarek William Saab this week in an interview with AFP affirmed that “many have been released”, without however specifying figures.
For the human rights NGO Foro Penal, “we are currently witnessing a repressive crisis with this enormous number of political prisoners in Venezuela: 1976,” its president Alfredo Romero told AFP.
“We are talking about the largest number of political prisoners in the 21st century, the largest number of political prisoners in the entire American continent,” he added. According to him, Venezuela had 305 political prisoners before the July 28 presidential election.
In addition to the increase in the number of arrests, Mr. Romero denounced a violation of the presumption of innocence and the refusal of access to a personal lawyer. “A court-appointed lawyer was imposed on them,” he denounced.
Since 2014, according to Foro Penal, at least a dozen political prisoners have died in custody in Venezuela.
