“My son is not a terrorist, he is nothing of the sort, my son is a “maraca” player and has been working in popular culture for 17 years,” said Nidian Chávez, the mother of Robert Alejandro Rico Chávez, a young folklorist arrested on July 30th after the post-election protests.
By: Corresponsalía lapatilla.com
Rico turned 30 years old last February and has dedicated more than 17 years to Venezuelan music, specializing in maracas. He is also known as the chronicler of the folklore of Guárico State.
Robert’s life has changed more than 75 days ago after peacefully protesting on July 29th against the election results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
After spending a few days detained in the National Guard detachment in San Juan de Los Morros (Capital of Guárico State), headquarters of the former General Penitentiary of Venezuela (PGV), Rico was transferred to the Tocorón prison in Aragua State.
“When I got to see him on Friday during my visit, what is my surprise? That I have to see him through a glass and talk to him on a telephone (…) The times I have seen him I have not even been able to hug him, I have not even been able to kiss him, that is not easy,” says Chavez through tears.
Protesting is not a crime
Article 68 of the National Constitution clearly establishes that citizens have the right to demonstrate peacefully and without weapons, as pointed out by the lawyer and journalist, Argenis Ranuárez, emeritus chronicler and living cultural heritage of San Juan de los Morros.
Ranuárez rejected the fact that the right to access a private defense was impeded to Rico and hundreds of young people who went out to protest peacefully.
“Robert exercised his right to peaceful protest. It is outrageous to say that there was an conspiracy, no one agreed anything with anyone. The elections were on the 28th (July) and people went out on the 29th in the afternoon to protest, to ask for clarification… Nobody went out here to do harm. That two or three, five or ten (protesters) took some tires and burned them, well, find those responsible and punish them, but it cannot be a witch hunt like the one that was done,” questioned the lawyer.
Robert Rico is known for his skills with the maracas, but also for the ease with which he remembers the biographies of characters of the plains music (música llanera), among other data of the culture of this region.
“Robert is a born chronicler of Guariqueño folklore, Robert is a person who has a prodigious memory to remember biographies of “criollo” (Creole) singers, song titles, song authors, lyrics and music. Robert has been collecting posters of Creole shows for many years,” emphasized Ranuárez.
As a paradox, Robert was the one who played the maracas with the musical group that frequently appears on the television and radio programs of the governor of Guárico, José Vásquez who belongs to the PSUV (The chavista party).
The maracas instructor
The music teacher and defender of cultural heritage in Guárico and Venezuela, Freddy Herrera, condemned the arrest of Robert and highlighted his influence as a maracas percussion instructor for children of the El Manguito Music School, in the Pariapán sector of the capital of Guárico.
“No kind of rights have been respected for Robert (…) The terrorism of Mr. Robert Rico is to teach children to respect and value Venezuela in all its essence. He is not a terrorist, he is a cultural worker,” asserted Herrera.
Autism diagnosis
Sobbing, Robert’s mother called out to the justice agencies for the freedom of her son, who according to a medical report, is a person with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
“It’s not easy for me or for him, because he has a slight autism, and I took my papers to Caracas and I think they didn’t even look at them, they maybe even threw them away, because if they saw my son’s papers (medical reports), he wouldn’t be going through this, he would already be free,” said Chavez.
Some folklorists from the state of Guárico expressed their rejection of Rico’s arrest and urged the judicial authorities to evaluate this case and grant freedom to the musician from San Juan de Los Morros.