Weekend roundup: González Urrutia summoned to testify as international pressure mounts
Venezuelans are about to complete a month immersed in a post-election crisis that is hard to see the end of. This weekend, the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, was summoned to answer for the publication of the minutes that the opposition managed to collect and with which it seeks to demonstrate to the world its victory in the elections of July 28. The 74-year-old diplomat, who has been under protection for almost a month due to the increase in threats from Chavismo, was summoned to appear this Monday at 10 in the morning before the Prosecutor’s Office in Caracas. This Sunday, in a video published on his social networks, he repudiated the summons: “The Public Ministry intends to subject me to an interview without specifying under what condition I am expected to appear and prequalifying crimes not committed. The prosecutor (Tarek William Saab) has repeatedly behaved like a political accuser,” he said. “He condemns in advance and now promotes a situation without guarantees of independence and due process.”
The government continues to tighten its grip on the opposition, while repression continues on the streets. This Sunday, the Bolivarian Police arrested the entertainment journalist Carmela Longo, who, according to the press union, will be brought before an anti-terrorism court. The arrest occurs in a context of persecution of critical voices. The Institute for Press and Society (IPYS) has verified eleven arrests of media workers in the South American country this year, eight of which occurred after the elections.
The opposition has also denounced the arrest of the political secretary of the Vente Venezuela party in Miranda State, Luis Istúriz, and his wife, Andriuska Sánchez, whose whereabouts the organization claims to be unknown since this Saturday, when they were arrested by officials of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, according to the complaint.
Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting for President Nicolás Maduro to present the minutes that make transparent the victory attributed to him by the organs of the Chavista State and also for him to stop the repression. After the Supreme Court of Venezuela validated the victory last Thursday, the United States and a dozen Latin American countries rejected the ruling.
On Saturday, the presidents of Brazil and Colombia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, insisted in a joint statement that the credibility of Venezuela’s electoral process “can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data.” The European Union also increased the pressure on Maduro’s government by rejecting the Venezuelan justice system’s endorsement of his victory in the July 28 elections. In a statement promoted by Spain, they declared the evidence presented by the government insufficient and warned that the EU will only recognize “complete” and “independently” verified results.
This week, however, demonstrations are expected. The opposition has called for a protest on Wednesday, one month after the elections, under the slogan Acta mata Sentencia (Acta kills sentence), in reference to the TSJ ruling. “This August 28, as a family, with your children, with your grandchildren and with your act in hand, we ratify that #ActaMataSentencia (Acta Kills Sentence),” wrote opposition leader María Corina Machado on the social network X when making the call. “Every day we are stronger and we are going all the way!!”
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