[Politics] The series of arrests of opposition politicians in Venezuela shows a criminalization of dissent

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Edmundo González asks Maduro to release detainees

 

Numerous members of Venezuelan political parties have been arrested in recent weeks in an escalation of repression by the government of Nicolás Maduro, which seems to surpass even other escalations of the last decade that are already the subject of investigation by international organizations for possible crimes against humanity.

“The exercise of dissent is being criminalized. Civic space is totally closed, there is no freedom of assembly, association, expression,” sociologist Rafael Uzcátegui, co-director of the Venezuelan research center Laboratorio de Paz, told CNN.

“Political actors and even (the presidential candidate of the opposition majority) Edmundo González are in a situation of defenselessness. The government has become impervious to public opinion,” added Uzcátegui.

 

In the days following the vote and the proclamation of the National Electoral Council, which declared Maduro the winner over opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia without presenting the results by table, numerous protests took place and several opponents were imprisoned in the framework of what was informally called “Operation Tun Tun,” which also targets the general public.

Some of the high-profile arrests this week were the former governor of Mérida state and leader of the Acción Democrática (AD) party, Williams Dávila Barrios; the former opposition deputy Américo De Grazia; and the coordinator of the Comando con Venezuela in the state of Portuguesa, María Oropeza, who broadcast the moment when security forces forcibly entered her house. Days before, according to a video published by her party on social media, several people dressed in black took, also by force, the leader of Voluntad Po[CENSORED]r, Freddy Superlano.

 

 

The arrests did not begin with the vote and protests. In June, Venezuela's attorney general, Tarek William Saab, reported that four opposition members had been deprived of their liberty after being charged with the crimes of inciting hatred and criminal association. In March, Henry Alviárez and Dignora Hernández, two collaborators of opposition leader María Corina Machado, were arrested, while six opposition members requested and obtained asylum in the Argentine embassy in Caracas.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) has intervened in several political parties in the last five years, suspending their directors and, on occasion, appointing leaders more aligned with the government. Among the affected movements are Primero Justicia, Acción Democrática and Voluntad Po[CENSORED]r, but also leftist parties and former government allies such as the Communist Party, Patria Para Todos, Podemos and Tupamaro.

Uzcátegui said that, during the months prior to the vote, “with the arrest of key people in logistical matters (the government) wanted to generate inefficiency in the functioning of the campaign.” The focus now is different. According to him, several of those arrested had been active on social networks, with high visibility in their opposition line. “(The authorities) seek to dismantle the opposition coalition and also generate fear,” he explained.

 

A documented and denounced strategy

In this regard, the UN's independent international fact-finding mission on Venezuela had warned in 2020 about the “inhibitory effect” on dissident activity due to the perception of the imminent risk of being criminalized. “From 2014 to 2020, the political and institutional crisis in the country was characterized by the violent and illegal repression of po[CENSORED]r demonstrations (...). State repression resulted in dozens of arbitrary deprivations of life by security forces, arbitrary arrests of real or perceived opponents,” indicates a report by the research group published in 2023.

In that same year, the Mission indicated that political persecution continued to occur “in a more selective manner, concentrating on individuals who serve as examples to dissuade others from expressing dissenting opinions,” and that restrictions on civic and democratic space were intensifying.

Amnesty International's Director General of Research, Erika Guevara Rosas, also warned in the 2023 annual report of the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights (Provea), published in April, that arbitrary detentions for political reasons "are visibly substantial in electoral periods, being part of a widespread and systematic attack against the po[CENSORED]tion and, therefore, could constitute crimes against humanity."

The International Criminal Court has already stated that there are indications that these types of crimes were committed in Venezuela and in March, the Appeals Chamber of the Hague court decided that the Prosecutor's Office will continue with the investigation, after dismissing the six appeal arguments raised by the Government of President Nicolás Maduro. At that time, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil rejected the ruling and said that the decision "responds to the intention of instrumentalizing international criminal justice mechanisms for political purposes."

These processes and investigations do not seem to have diminished the repression in Venezuela.

 

 

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2024/08/11/analisis-detenciones-politicos-opositores-venezuela-criminalizacion-disidencia-orix/