So far in 2024, 37 political and opposition leaders have been detained by agencies of the Nicolás Maduro regime.
lapatilla.com correspondent
The leader of the opposition, María Corina Machado, reported that of this number, 20 belong to the Vente Venezuela party and the “Con Venezuela” (With Venezuela) campaign command, which supports the presidential candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia.
The persecution of the leaders of Vente Venezuela this year started on January 23rd, when Juan Freites, head of the “Con Venezuela” Vargas Command, was arrested. Luis Camacaro, head of the “Con Venezuela” Yaracuy Command, and Guillermo López, head of the “Con Venezuela” Trujillo Command.
In March, Emill Brandt, head of the Con Vzla Barinas Command, was arrested; Henry Alviarez, Organization Liaison of the Con Vzla Venezuela, and Dignora Hernández, Political Operation liaison of the Con Venezuela Command.
The onslaught continued in April with the imprisonment of Víctor Castillo, head of the Con VenezuelaCommand in Santa Rosalía (Portuguesa State). Oscar Castañeda, supporter of María Corina Machado; and Ámbar Márquez, Vice President of the Primero Justicia Organization in Santa Rosalía (Portuguesa State) and member of Machado’s command.
And in this month of June, the persecution has worsened. On June 15th, Juan Iriarte, coordinator of Vente Venezuela in Maiquetía, was arrested. Jean Carlos Rivas, youth leader of Voluntad Popular (VP) in Vargas, and Luis López, journalist and member of the communications team of Edmundo González’s command in Vargas.
While two days later, on June 17th, Gabriel González, a member of the Communications team of Vente Venezuela, was arrested and Javier Cisneros, national youth leader of Vente Venezuela. It was later known that Cisneros was released a few hours after being detained.
Machado specified that of the 14 leaders who remain detained (at the time of this edition), six are taking refuge in the Argentine embassy, because they have been issued an arrest warrant. They are: Magalli Meda, head of the Con Venezuela Command; Humberto Villalobos, electoral liaison of the Con Venezuela Command; Claudia Macero, Communications Liaison of the Con Venezuela Command; Pedro Urruchurtu, international liaison of the Con Venezuela Command; Omar González, head of the Con Venezuela Command in Anzoátegui (political secretary of Vente Venezuela); and Fernando Martínez Mottola, advisor to the Unitary Platform.
The opposition leader considered that with these arbitrary arrests, Maduro seeks to “scare and demoralize.” She assured that these actions are “a sign that they have lost all support and they have lost the people’s support, this is evident.”