CARACAS.- Amnesty International (AI) rejected the recent arrests of members of the campaign of the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) Edmundo González Urrutia and denounced the “incessant persecution of dissident voices against the government” by the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela.
In its X account, the NGO expressed that it reiterates “our alarm at the incessant persecution against dissident voices against the government.”
This week, the Vente Venezuela platform denounced the arrest by security forces of two of its campaign collaborators in Caracas.
The detainees are Javier Cisneros, national youth coordinator of the party organization, who was released on Wednesday, and Gabriel González, journalist and member of the national communications team.
AI reiterated that “The reports of the arrests of Gabriel González, Javier Cisneros, Jeancarlos Rivas, Luis López and Juan Iriarte are consistent with the policy of repression that we have denounced for years and we once again demand their immediate cessation.”
The organization recalled “the increase in attacks against activists and civic space” in April, in the political context that the country is experiencing, which is preparing for presidential elections on July 28.
Last week, Jeancarlos Rivas, youth leader of the Voluntad Popular party, and journalist Luis López, a member of the Command’s communications team with Venezuela, were also arrested.
On Saturday, June 15, the organizing coordinator of Vente Venezuela in Maiquetía, Juan Iriarte, was arrested.
For its part, the United States Government condemned on Thursday “the latest arrests and constant harassment” perpetrated in Venezuela against members of the “democratic opposition”, something that, according to the Maduro regime, only demonstrates Washington’s “anguish.” facing the imminent electoral defeat of their “puppets.”
The United States Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian A. Nichols, considered the repression “deeply worrying”, given the April 28 elections, in which Maduro will once again aspire to continue governing in Venezuela.
“Venezuelan candidates and activists should be able to campaign peacefully and without intimidation,” Nichols said in a message posted on the social network X.
Source: With information from Europa Press / El Nacional
