Relatives of those detained for post-election protests demand visitation regime, appointment of private lawyers and food guarantees

  • Oct, Tue, 2024


Relatives of arrested for Venezuela’s post-election protests They denounced human rights violations this Tuesday, which include strong restrictions on visits and poor access to food, following protests over the questioned re-election in July of leftist President Nicolás Maduro.

Relatives demonstrated in front of the courts in Barquisimeto, Lara state to demand a visitation regime, the appointment of private lawyers instead of public defenders and food guarantees for their relatives detained in the Tocuyito maximum security prison, approximately 177 kilometers from their homes. places of residence.

“They allowed us a single 40-minute visit” with “hooded officers, they did not have a name or identification,” Reina Pineda, wife of one of the detainees accused of terrorism, told the press.

They were “waiting to see what we were talking about, what we were saying, they didn’t give us privacy or anything,” added Pineda, who said she saw her husband “very thin.”

What food do those detained due to the post-election protests in Venezuela receive?

On Friday, the NGO Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) denounced that those detained for post-election protests receive poor food.

“We ask for justice, we ask for freedom and at least since they are there, we ask for their food, that is what we ask most, that they can eat in that place,” said María Guárico, mother of another of the prisoners.

Guárico managed to see his son after two months; before, he had not been allowed to do so. “We left very sad because of the condition we saw, he was very thin.”

What is the balance of the protests?

The post-election protests left 27 dead – 2 of them soldiers -, nearly 192 injured and more than 2,400 arrested, including 164 teenagers, of whom 67 remain detained. In recent weeks, relatives of minors have reported mistreatment and have demanded his release. The government set up two maximum security prisons – which were for years under the control of criminal gangs – to hold adult detainees.

Maduro was proclaimed re-elected for a third consecutive term by the National Electoral Council, but without until now showing the detailed scrutiny of the election, as established by law.

The opposition claims, however, the triumph of its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, exiled in Spain for a month.









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