The Italian government intervenes in the case of Venezuelan opposition MP Williams Davila, arrested a few hours after the interview given to Adnkronos in which the same parliamentarian appealed to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to ask for Italy’s support, denouncing the repression of Nicolas Maduro’s regime following the highly contested political elections of July 28. “The regime illegally kidnapped him in the square through the collectives. We have no more news about his fate, we are in constant contact with his family and with friends of the Venezuelan opposition”, thealarm raised this morning by Alessandro Bertoldi, executive director of the Milton Friedman Institute (of which Davila is a member) and one of the last to speak to the Venezuelan politician by telephone.
“In every healthy democracy, popular sovereignty and justice are essential and inseparable pillars to guarantee the rule of law. And in Venezuela they have evidently been disregarded”, the comment to Adnkronos by Edmondo Cirielli, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of Fratelli d’Italia. According to Cirielli, Davila’s arrest “represents the denial of the fundamental right of a people to regain their freedom after 25 years of oppression and poverty.”
“An authoritarian left-wing government, that of Venezuela, is now confirmed as a shameful communist dictatorship, adopting a strategy of fear and intimidation not only against opposition leaders but also against citizens who do not recognize the election results”, the Deputy Foreign Minister remarked, recalling how the Farnesina has established a permanent task force “to follow developments in Venezuela. Continuous monitoring will be carried out, in coordination with the Italian Embassy in Caracas and the two consulates in Caracas and Maracaibo, of the evolution of the political situation in the country and of the problems relating to political opponents and Italian citizens subject to measures by local authorities”.
The commitment of the government is added to that of the Italian Parliament, as assured by Fdi MP Giangiacomo Calovinileader of the Melonian group in the Foreign Affairs Committee at Montecitorio. “A few days ago, on behalf of the group I represent in the Committee, I tabled a resolution on the Venezuelan issue, which will be discussed immediately after the summer break, and which I hope will find consensus among all the political forces present in Parliament to condemn the atrocities of the Maduro regime”, says the Fdi parliamentarian. Concerned about the fate of the Venezuelan dissident, also Naike Gruppioni, MP of Italia Viva: “Davila was taken by a group of unidentified men. Now – says Gruppioni – there are fears that he may have been taken to a prison known for the torture of opponents”.
In the same hours, the exponent of Iv recalls, also the Italian-Venezuelan deputy Amerigo De Grazia has become untraceable. “The regime is showing its face and every hope of change has fallen dramatically. Italy and Europe must act for an immediate international investigation into the regularity of the last elections”. Thus Pier Ferdinando Casini, Senator of the Republic and former President of the Chamber, comments on the arrest of the Venezuelan deputy to Adnkronos.
“The arrest in Venezuela of opposition MP Williams Davila, who had launched an appeal for help to the Italian government, is a very serious act, yet another affront to freedom by the regime. Maduro, by denying the international community the possibility of verifying the true election results and violently repressing any form of opposition, confirms the true illiberal face of communism. Schlein and Conte, who every day make an unmotivated moral about freedom and rights in our nation, have nothing to say about this new very serious repression against the opposition which is the arrest of an elected MP?”, he writes in a note the deputy and head of organization of Brothers of Italy, Giovanni Donzelli.
In the interview published by Adnkronos shortly before his arrest, Davila asked the international community to apply pressure “so that the CNE (National Electoral Council) shows the minutes it claims to have”. “Prime Minister Meloni – Davila continued – knows that the will of the people and their sovereignty must be respected, and I am sure she would support what I say. What happened on July 28 was an electoral phenomenon that had not been seen since the last century. People went to the polls en masse and voted for Edmundo Gonzalez as the new president of Venezuela”. Davila also spoke about the crackdown on social media implemented by the South American regime: “The government – Davila stressed – is trying to repress social media to prevent people from informing themselves, uploading information or evidence of crimes against humanity, violations of constitutional rights and more. WhatsApp was the application that Maduro ordered to be deleted from phones because, he claims, alleged conspiracies were born from there”. Maduro has also targeted the social network X. In the midst of protests following his re-election to power, the Venezuelan president has ordered a ten-day blocking of the platform, accusing it of “inciting hatred” and “violating all laws” of the country. (by Antonio Atte)
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