Members of the opposition majority of Venezuela They went from being permanently on the street to practicing politics from the shelter and virtuality, in the face of “persecution” that they denounce against him, especially after the presidential elections of July 28, in which Nicolas Maduro He was proclaimed the winner, which anti-Chavismo considers fraudulent.
According to the criteria of
The leader Maria Corina Machado She has been “in hiding” since August 1, fearing for her “life” and “freedom”, and has gone out punctually to some demonstrations, which she has arrived undercover.
According to the former deputy, they were precisely “the growing threats” those that promoted the departure from the country of the standard-bearer of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – the largest opposition bloc -, Edmundo González Urrutiawho arrived in Spain on September 8, to request asylum considering that he was suffering political and judicial persecution in Venezuela.
That forced us to protect ourselves and, in my case, to leave punctually, when there is an important call.
For Juan Pablo Guanipaa close collaborator of both opposition leaders, although before July 28 “persecution was a reality”, afterwards it has been “irrepressible”, with a “repression” against “all political leaders”.
“That forced us to protect ourselves and, in my case, to leave punctually, when there is an important call,” he told Efe the former deputy, who pointed out that “many” “national, regional, municipal and parish” leaders, even from the “student sector”, are in this situation.
The Government, for its part, pointed out the questions to the results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE) -which are still unknown in a disaggregated manner- as an attempted coup d’état “of a fascist nature”.
Virtuality: another ‘way’ of doing politics
The reservation, as Guanipa explained, forces them to give up the street and, therefore, direct contact with citizens. and representatives of different sectors, thus changing the “way” of doing politics, becoming a “virtual leader.”
“We have to see how we can be useful in the midst of the situation,” said the 59-year-old opponent.
We have to see how we can be useful in the midst of the situation
The former first vice president of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament) says he has reinvented himself, and now dedicates himself, in large part, to constantly publishing on networks as a “communication mechanism with the people”, through which he disseminates information about “the fight” for “political change”, and to try to generate “hope and optimism.”
Likewise, he continued, the reservation forces them to abandon, for an indefinite period, their “natural space”, in reference to their home, which, in their case, is in the state of Zulia. (northwest, border with Colombia)more than half a thousand kilometers away from where – he assured – he is today.
“(We are) changing places permanently (…) I have to move if there is any unusual movement, (like) recently in a place where I was (that) a Sebin truck arrived (Bolivarian Intelligence Service)“He got out, spoke to the guard, I don’t know if it was because of me or someone else (…) but that forced me to move immediately, that is, we are in a situation of persecution,” he said.
Guanipa claimed to have become “a persecuted” of “a dictatorship that does not accept that the people told it that they do not want it to govern anymore, and tries to continue governing against the will of the people” who, according to the PUD, widely voted for Gonzalez Urrutia.
The ‘persecution’ suffered by opponents and social activists
At least 157 opposition politicians and activists and social they are detained in Venezuela currently, many of them collaborators of González Urrutia and Machado, according to the Human Rights Committee of the Vente Venezuela (VV) formation, led by the former deputy.
Meanwhile, since March, six opponents have been sheltered in the official residence of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, under the protection of Brazil after the expulsion of the diplomatic mission of the southern country, an authorization that, however, Venezuela revoked from the South American giant on the 7th. of September.
Guanipa has denounced arrest attempts against him in “the last three” demonstrations in which he participated, a “luck” that, he noted, some of his colleagues did not suffer, among them, Freddy Superlano, Perkins Rocha and Biagio Pilieri, also collaborators of the PUD.
Despite everything, he says he is willing to attend upcoming calls to fulfill the commitment it feels to the people, taking security measures, even “knowing that there will always be a risk.”
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