Both groups made statements through statements: IDEA on the forced disappearances of Venezuelan opponents and Democracy and Freedom sent a letter to the President of the United States Joe Biden, in which they asked him to take concrete measures to guarantee the participation of María Corina Machado in the 2024 elections, both cases related to the repression that is increasingly worsening in Venezuela.
The former president of Panama, Ernesto Pérez Balladares, raised his voice through his Instagram account to denounce the “repeated practice” of the Nicolás Maduro regime of “disappearing its opponents.”
Balladares, in his capacity as a member of the IDEA Group (@ideademocratica), an organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy, called on the international community to remain attentive to the situation in Venezuela.
In particular, the former Panamanian president mentioned the “arbitrary arrests” of the leaders of the Vente Venezuela party Juan Freites, Luis Camacaro, Guillermo López and Víctor Venegas, as well as the “disappearance” of human rights defender Rocío San Miguel and her family.
Unjustified arrests
The leaders of Vente Venezuela were arbitrarily deprived of their freedom, accused by the Public Ministry of the Chavista regime for allegedly attacking the Venezuelan State and imploding citizen peace, without presenting evidence to support these accusations. The prosecution only limited itself to pointing out that they were part of five conspiracies that would have been dismantled by the intelligence agencies of the dictatorship.
In this sense, Vente Venezuela’s lawyer, Perkins Rocha, denounced that these arrests are part of a “systematized campaign” to remove the party from the electoral route, which violate the Barbados agreement, signed between the regime and the opposition in October. 2023, with the mediation of Norway, which included political and electoral guarantees for the presidential elections scheduled for the second half of 2025.
While San Miguel, as confirmed by one of her lawyers, has been detained since last Friday, February 9, for allegedly being linked to the conspiracy plot to assassinate Nicolás Maduro and other officials.
Arrest of Rocío San Miguel
The capture of San Miguel occurred almost three weeks after the attorney general appointed by the regime, Tarek William Saab, reported the arrest of more than thirty people for allegedly being involved in “coup plans,” and after officials of Maduro arrested collaborators of the opposition candidate María Corina Machado, accused of being part of a conspiracy.
San Miguel was presented last Monday before the Second Court Against Terrorism. The Public Ministry (MP) requested a “preventive measure of freedom” for the “alleged commission of the crimes of treason, conspiracy, terrorism and association.”
Balladares recalled that despite the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating the Maduro regime for crimes against humanity, the dictatorship continues to systematically and viciously attack the civic and democratic space in Venezuela.
For his part, the former president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, spoke on his account on the social network , a detention center known for being one of the cruelest in the Maduro regime.
Calderón also harshly criticized the Maduro regime, calling it “autocratic, narcissistic, repressive and murderous.” “Tell me who you are with and I will tell you who you are,” said the former Mexican president without naming or accusing anyone, but it can be interpreted that he was referring to the friendship between Maduro and the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Letter to Biden from the Freedom and Democracy Group
On the other hand, the former presidents of Costa Rica, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, and of Colombia, Iván Duque, posted on their accounts on the social network . In the letter they express their deep concern about the disqualification of María Corina Machado for the 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections.
Decision that they consider as a “mockery of democracy” and an “attempt to perpetuate himself in power” by Maduro.
The signatories of the letter argue that Machado’s disqualification is illegal and arbitrary. They point out that there is no legal basis for the decision and that it violates the political rights of the opposition leader and the right of the Venezuelan people to freely elect their representatives.
Pattern of repression
Furthermore, the letter denounces that Machado’s disqualification is part of a broader pattern of political repression by the Maduro regime. The former presidents indicate in the letter that the regime imprisons political opponents, closes independent media outlets and uses violence to intimidate dissidents.
In the letter, the Freedom and Democracy Group asks President Biden to take concrete measures to guarantee the participation of María Corina Machado in the 2024 elections, since her participation is fundamental for the future of democracy in Venezuela.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court of Venezuela announced the political disqualification from holding public office against the opposition presidential candidate, María Corina Machado, for a period of 15 years, which prevents her from competing in the elections scheduled for this year.
Machado was chosen as the candidate of the opposition unit in a primary election held on October 22, 2023 in which she obtained a large victory, with a total of 93.13 percent of the votes.
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Source: Social network
