Wednesday, October 2, 2024, 7:48 p.m.
The mayor of Maracaibo, Rafael Ramírez Colina, has become the fifth municipal leader opposed to the Chavista regime of Nicolás Maduro who has been imprisoned so far this year. The Primero Justicia party (PJ), the same party of Edmundo González Urrutia, has protested through social networks against the arrest of the councilor and three other officials, including the Secretary of Citizen Security, David Barroso. Ramírez and his companions were arrested on Tuesday night by the National Intelligence Service (Sebin) in the capital of Zulia.
Four other mayors, contrary to Maduro’s policies, also remain in prison. The one from Ayacucho (Táchira), Yonnhy Liscano, was arrested on June 20 accused of corruption. Liscano had no qualms about also supporting the candidacy of Edmundo González in the elections of July 28, and that after two months the National Electoral Center (CNE) has still refused to present the minutes, which according to the opposition gave González the winner. , today exiled in Spain.
On August 2, Jordan Sifuentes, the only municipal leader opposed to Maduro in the Sucre region, was detained without justifiable reason by the regime. Fernando Feo, mayor of Tinaquillo (Cojedes), went to prison two days later. He also supported González’s candidacy. And Abraham Hayón Chocrón, mayor of Rangel (Mérida), whom Diosdado Cabello, Minister of Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, has accused of “betrayal of the country.”
Hayón denied having written a post on social networks in which he requested the intervention of the United States to guarantee peace and institutional order in Venezuela. Hayón was replaced in September 2023 from the position of mayor accused of being absent from the mayor’s office for more than 90 days, but was later reinstated until last September.
On August 5, the audit of the municipality of Maracaibo presented the results of 912 digitized electoral records (77.16%), in which Edmundo González appeared with a total of 273,762 votes (75%), while Nicolás Maduro added 86,337 ( 24%).
Political persecution
On the social network dedicated to building solutions, sowing hope and guaranteeing that each of the 18 parishes that make up Maracaibo receive the necessary assistance based on the values and principles that define us as vigilantes. Given the increase in the number of political prisoners, the PJ asked for respect for human rights and an end to the political persecution suffered by all Maduro’s opponents.
María Corina Machado, the great opposition leader, who Maduro has accused of seeking exile, spoke in the same sense: “We denounce to the world how the regime’s repressive wave is intensifying. With this wave of terror, the regime seeks to break the will and divide the enormous social movement that expressed itself on July 28 and defeated tyranny.
María Corina, while demanding Ramírez’s release, begged the entire world to act now. “Each prisoner and persecuted person belongs to all Venezuelans and we all fight for their freedom,” concluded the Venezuelan leader.
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