Several people who worked as electoral witnesses in the presidential elections that Venezuela held last Sunday, as well as citizens who have protested against the election results, have been arrested by the Police who, according to NGOs and anti-Chavez politicians, are carrying out search operations for these individuals in various regions of the country.
The match First Justice (PJ) denounced in X that two of its coordinators in the states Aragua and Guárico were arrested in the last few hours, as well as dozens of people in other regions of the country, after having worked in the elections in favor of the main opposition coalition, Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
Anti-Chavez supporters have denounced that these arrests are part of an “attack” by the Government to “criminalize Venezuelans who demand the complete publication” of the election results, since the official bulletin – with 80% of the voting records – declared the winner to Nicolas Madurowhile the PUD assures that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiawon by a wide margin.
The non-governmental organization Criminal Forumwhich leads the defense of those considered political prisoners in the country, assured EFE that they know of “several” cases of people who were arrested in their homes since Monday, when numerous protests broke out in rejection of the election results.
As of Thursday afternoon, the NGO had verified 711 arrests related to the accusation of electoral fraud and the violence unleashed by the protests – which resulted in 11 civilian deaths and one soldier – although Maduro said that there were more than 1,200 detainees and that the authorities were looking for “a thousand more”, since he calls those participating in these protests violent and coup-mongers.
In addition, videos have circulated on social media showing police or military officers arresting people – supposedly electoral witnesses of the PUD – although in some cases the officers have been repelled by the crowd, which refuses to allow these arrests to take place.
Military and police authorities assure that the ban on public meetings and demonstrations remains in force, although Chavismo has carried out Caracas Two street events in support of Maduro with hundreds of people, without any deterrent action by the uniformed officers being recorded. EFE (I)
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