Those persecuted by Maduro find refuge in neighboring Colombia

Early on Sunday, July 28, Angélica Ángel, a 24-year-old political science student, voted for the first time in Venezuela’s presidential elections, in her native Mérida, nestled in the Andes mountain range. More than a month later, she feels that day is not over, she says from her exile in Bogotá, the capital of neighboring Colombia, 830 kilometers away by road. Harassed for her activism in defense of those detained by Nicolás Maduro’s government in the repression of post-election protests, she drove to Cúcuta, the main Colombian city on the border, and continued her journey by bus. “I am aware that I have to stay here a while longer,” she admits without bitterness. Like her, many other political leaders, human rights defenders, journalists or electoral witnesses have crossed the border in the last month in search of shelter.

A university leader, Ángel was part of the organization of the 600k, as the opposition referred to the 600,000 people needed to defend the vote, especially as witnesses and center coordinators. It was thanks to this structure that she was able to collect, in very adverse conditions, more than 80% of the electoral records that show the victory of Edmundo González Urrutia with 67% of the votes, compared to 30% for Maduro, who was entrenched in proclaiming himself the winner without showing any evidence of that result. This recount includes the record of her own polling station, where Maduro obtained 248 votes and González Urrutia more than 2,500, the young woman relates enthusiastically, as irrefutable proof. “It was worth it, we are very clear on that,” she says without hesitation.

“Angélica, enjoy the time you have left before the 28th, because after that we will come for you,” she remembers a colleague who belongs to the so-called colectivos, the shock groups of Chavismo, which has been in power for 25 years, telling her. It was the first of many threats, which intensified as she posted on social media about the dozens of people arrested in Mérida, which included minors and even a 13-year-old girl who had not even voted and could not do so, as she emphasizes indignantly. A white car without license plates came to chase her and motorcycles from the National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command, Conas, prowled around her house. The arrest on August 8 of former governor Williams Dávila at the end of a vigil for political prisoners convinced her of the urgency of fleeing. “At that moment I already felt cornered.”

Next to him, in the house where the foundation for migrants that guides them in Bogotá operates, Antonio, another 19-year-old student from the University of Mérida, asks to change his name so he can speak. “I plan to return very soon, so I would be at risk,” he apologizes. “Despite all the obstacles we had, as the opposition and civil society we managed to organize ourselves for everything that was achieved,” he adds, detailing how the electoral day began with the Venezuelan anthem, the Glory to the brave peopleas opposition leader María Corina Machado had requested. He was a defender of the vote within the 600K structure. He himself read the results from his center through a megaphone, where, he recalls, Maduro obtained 438 votes and Edmundo Gonzáles more than 2,300. He cried with happiness, with hope, before the National Electoral Council proclaimed Hugo Chávez’s heir the winner that morning.

He attended the protests on July 30, but soon news began to arrive about the arrests of teenagers in Mérida, and opposition leaders throughout the country. “We knew they were going to come for us,” he explains. When he was traveling from Cúcuta to Bogotá, images began to arrive on his cell phone with his face above a sign that said “Wanted for guarimbero”. Security forces have also been around his house. He reasons that Edmundo González must be sworn in as the new president on January 10, and that the regime is going to use the four months it has left to intimidate society and prevent any sector from organizing itself, because it knows that on that day they will go out into the streets to defend the popular will. “If we all leave and don’t come back, he will succeed,” he warns. Each person must calculate the risk, he adds. “I return and I won’t be able to go out into the street, I will have to stay hidden, but strong and hopeful, working to organize the youth for the upcoming activities. There will be no persecution, torture, prison cell or military that can silence us.”

Chavismo has intensified its repression, to the point of issuing an arrest warrant this week against González Urrutia. It had previously arrested close collaborators of Machado and the opposition candidate himself, with the aim of demobilizing their supporters. At least 24 people have died in the context of the protests, and more than 2,000 have been arrested, including political leaders – including officials elected by popular vote –, journalists, human rights defenders and university students. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has condemned the practices of “state terrorism” in Venezuela, a term also used in the joint report published this week by different NGOs.

Colombia, which shares 2,200 kilometers of border, is by far the main host country for the diaspora, with nearly three million citizens from the neighboring country who have fled inflation, food and medicine shortages or insecurity in successive waves in recent years. Now, this flow is joined by those fleeing persecution. A month after the elections, a week ago, reports from international cooperation agencies already spoke of more than 140 people in Colombia identified as politically persecuted. EL PAÍS has interviewed a dozen of them, many of whom wish to remain anonymous.

Although there is distrust of Colombian officials, most have some kind of support network, so rather than shelter, they seek international protection, says an official involved in reception policies. “What is most common are the people in charge of collecting the records,” says Gaby Arellano, who was a student leader in Mérida and opposition deputy for the border state of Táchira before taking refuge in Colombia years ago. Today she is involved in the Juntos Se Puede foundation, which has supported more than 170 people since the elections, from different Venezuelan states and bound for equally diverse Colombian cities. “Many were raided and had to flee overnight,” she says. Another pattern is journalists who simply covered the protests on July 29 and 30. Although many are afraid of what they perceive as a closeness between Maduro and President Gustavo Petro, he emphasizes that in the crossings “the national government maintains the same measures” that it had in the administration of Iván Duque.

José Barreto, a 64-year-old leader of the Democratic Action party, who has been a councilman, deputy and mayoral candidate in the state of Lara, also felt the siege of the police forces even before the election. On Friday the 26th, five patrols of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, the Sebin, came to raid his house, but he managed to slip away, with tricks such as jumping between the roofs. He returned, voted, collected the ballots and took cover. He was part of María Corina Machado’s campaign team, and proudly narrates that in his parishes, where Chavismo used to have roots, they recovered more than 90% of the ballots – which he calls “chorizos” – with an overwhelming advantage for Edmundo González.

On Monday they raided his house again, did not find him, and began to look for him in the homes of his relatives. “Anxiety began to take over me,” he admits. He is wanted by a terrorism court in Caracas. He was “holed up” in various houses in the capital, but came to the conclusion that it was not safe. He managed to move to Táchira and from there cross to Cúcuta to “preserve” his life, although the capital of Norte de Santander did not offer him any guarantees. The entire opposition campaign command in the state of Lara, made up of graying political leaders from different parties, has had to flee by different routes to find themselves on this side of the border.

President Petro, who persists in an attempt at mediation with the help of Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and has expressed “deep concern” about the arrest warrant against González, insists on asking Maduro for the famous reports and avoiding repression. He has also proposed a negotiated solution that includes the lifting of sanctions, a general amnesty, guarantees for political action, a transitional cohabitation government and “new free elections,” an idea that was rejected from different sides. “An internal political agreement in Venezuela is the best path to peace. It depends only on the Venezuelans,” he said in mid-August. “On our part, the border populations can feel calm,” he promised then. “The borders will remain open to improve the common prosperity of our peoples.”

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