CARACAS.– The offices of the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Caracas were attacked and vandalized during the early hours of Friday by armed men who caused damage and stole documents and equipment.
The Vente Venezuela organization, led by Machado, reported on its X social network account that six men with their faces covered and without identification entered the party headquarters in eastern Caracas during the night after subduing the guards.
The men sprayed graffiti on walls, broke doors and stole equipment and documents, Vente Venezuela said, without providing further details.
Authorities have not yet commented on the incident.
The incident occurred hours after Machado, who became the main promoter of the opposition coalition candidate, Edmundo González, after being disqualified from holding public office, denounced that she was under protection for fear of her life and freedom in the face of the escalation of attacks and excessive repression by the regime of Nicolás Maduro, which has ordered her arrest and accused her of promoting violent and fascist acts.
The opposition leader said in an opinion piece published Thursday in the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal that she was under protection out of fear. “I write this from hiding, fearing for my life, my freedom and that of my compatriots in the dictatorship led by Nicolás Maduro,” she said.
The complaint came a day after Maduro accused her of promoting the protests that took place after the National Electoral Council (under the direction of the regime) made the fraud official by proclaiming the re-election of the president in the elections of July 28, without having delivered the electoral records, where the opposition has demonstrated with records from more than 80% of the voting tables, that Edmundo González Urrutia was elected president by the Venezuelans. Maduro called María Corina Machado a “terrorist” and asked that “there be fair justice,” so the Venezuelan leader was forced to take shelter.
Post-election repression
According to the latest report by Foro Penal, the non-governmental organization dedicated to the defense of human rights, from July 29 to August 1, 711 arrests have been verified, of which 74 correspond to adolescents, and 11 murders.
The states with the most arrests recorded are Anzoátegui (110); Capital District (120); Miranda (53); Barinas (42); Carabobo (109); and Zulia (36). The Penal Forum continues to receive complaints and update the figures, reflecting a worrying panorama of repression and violence in the country.
This update highlights the magnitude of the post-election crisis and the repressive actions of the Maduro regime, generating growing concern both nationally and internationally about respect for human rights and the political situation in Venezuela.
They indicated that hearings in the face of mass arrests for protesting against fraud “are being carried out electronically, without allowing the detainees to see their relatives or be defended by their trusted lawyers.”
Source: Writing
