Educators ask for the freedom of minors detained in Venezuela

Organizations of educators in Venezuela asked the authorities to release the minors who were detained in the context of the political crisis – unleashed after the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential elections on July 28 -, before the start of the school year, scheduled for next Monday, the NGO Provea reported this Friday.

«It is not possible to educate young students, their teachers and citizens in an environment of fear, terror and persecution. A climate of respect for constitutional rights and guarantees is required,” said the educators, grouped into 27 organizations that signed a document released by Provea.

They stressed that it is necessary to guarantee “a space of tranquility” in the classrooms so that “the teaching and learning process is efficient and effective”, something that they consider to be compromised while 68 adolescents are kept deprived of liberty, according to the records of the NGO Penal Forum.

“The 2024-2025 school year is going to begin in a new political context for everyone: we are victims of arbitrariness and transgression of human rights,” insisted the teachers, who repudiated “the repression” of the State “against citizens” who reject the official result of the elections, also questioned by many countries.

For this reason, they believe that it is necessary to “save” education and demand “freedom for all minors who are imprisoned,” to whom are added six students and a professor from the Central University of Venezuela who are part of the 2,400 detainees of the post-election crisis, some of them arrested in protests.

«As educators, we have the duty to oppose the attempt to convert education into an instrument of social and political control by the State-Government. “We call on teachers to promote critical thinking, plurality of ideas, respect and defense of human rights,” the statement says.