Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro indicated on Wednesday (4) that his regime has been counting on the help of “international friends” to monitor and repress opponents in the country.
According to information from the Argentine portal Infobaeduring the inauguration of a medical office, broadcast by the state-run Venezuelan Television Network (VTV), Maduro highlighted that “extraordinary friends among the people from different countries around the world” were providing advance information “at all times” about the opposition’s movements. The Chavista dictator’s speech was accompanied by praise for the regime’s intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, which directly contribute to the capture of opponents.
“An intelligence and a counterintelligence and some security agencies and extraordinary friends among the people of different countries of the world […] inform everything in advance”, said the dictator.
According to Maduro, his repressive forces continue to capture individuals linked to the main opposition coalition, the Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD), which he accused of being behind “fascist” and “diabolical” plans.
Maduro has boasted about his regime’s ability to neutralize alleged “fascist plans” in real time. The dictator has refused to provide further details about the “friends from different countries around the world” who are allegedly passing information to the dictatorship, claiming that any new information could “compromise ongoing investigations.”
“First we put the hooks [as prisões]then we inform the people,” Maduro said.
Maduro’s statements come amid a growing crackdown on opposition figures in the country, including María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrútia, both leaders of the PUD. Machado and González denounced fraud in the recent presidential elections, in which the official result gave Maduro the victory, despite claims that the opposition had won a large majority. Several countries have not recognized the reelection of the Chavista leader and have called on the National Electoral Council (CNE), controlled by allies of Caracas, to comply with its rules and publish the detailed results of the vote.
González is currently under arrest warrant issued against him last Monday (2). Maduro has already accused María Corina Machado of being a “criminal”, without presenting evidence. Opponents fear that Machado will be the Chavista dictator’s next target.
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