Caracas Venezuela.- The electoral campaign ahead of the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela was marked on Sunday by opposition complaints about the arrests of political leaders and activists.
Opposition leader Perkins Rocha denounced in a press conference the arrest of eight people between Saturday night and Sunday morning in the states of Carabobo, Monagas, Anzoátegui and Portuguesa.
He said that among those arrested are the owner and two assistants of the truck that opposition leader María Corina Machado and candidate Edmundo González used for a tour of the streets of Valencia on Saturday. He added that the detainees were brought before the courts accused, among other charges, of “alleged injuries to public officials” and acts of “extortion.”
Rocha, from the National Campaign Command of Vente Venezuela, a political movement to which Machado belongs, called on the members of the National Electoral Council to address this situation after pointing out that “their shoulders bear the responsibility of ensuring that the players compete transparently.”
“We are seeing an escalation in repression” not only of political leaders and campaign teams, but also of “people who have done nothing but offer us their services,” Machado said at the close of a campaign event at the Central University of Venezuela in support of González’s candidacy.
Gonzalez, the opposition coalition candidate, and Maduro, who is seeking a third term, are the most likely to win the upcoming presidential election, compared with eight other candidates with little chance, many of whom represent political organizations close to the government, according to analysts.
Machado, who had to be replaced by González due to political disqualification, described the situation as violating “all the terms of fair competition” and alerted international observers to the situation.
Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the Foro Penal, a nongovernmental human rights organization, told The Associated Press that some of the detainees have not been able to contact lawyers to defend themselves. According to the Forum, as of July 8, there were 287 “political prisoners.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has not yet commented on the latest reported arrests. However, the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, had accused on Friday two businessmen arrested on July 10 and 11, including Ricardo Albacete, of being part of an act of “sabotage against the electrical system to irritate the population and destabilize the presidential elections.”
Earlier, during a campaign rally before hundreds of students gathered at the Central University, Machado said that they are “a generation that was born and raised in tyranny, but that will enjoy freedom.”
“They have risked their lives, they have lost comrades, they have seen many leave and here they are standing and determined to give everything,” he said.
González, for his part, recalled to the students his time at that institution where he trained as a diplomat and questioned the precarious situation of the university.
The meeting took place despite the fact that hours before, the rectorate of the Central University had issued a statement denying authorization for the event planned at the site, arguing the need to preserve the world heritage status of the University City and ensure the necessary security conditions for the campus.
The campus of the so-called University City of Caracas – which houses more than 90 buildings, stadiums, covered walkways, large plazas and works by renowned artists such as the Hungarian painter and lithographer Victor Vasarely and the American sculptor Alexander Calder – was declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.
University professors, especially the best qualified ones, have joined the brain drain, driven away by the fact that most of them earn close to the minimum monthly wage – 4,741 bolivars, equivalent to 130 dollars – as a result of deficit budgets.
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