Machado condemns Biagio Pilieri’s arrest: “He knew the risk and still went along”

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado repudiated this Wednesday the arrest of the coordinator of the Convergence party, Biagio Pilieri, after participating in a demonstration in Caracas against the Supreme Court ruling that validated the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential elections.

«My absolute repudiation of the kidnapping of Biagio Pilieri and his sonJesús (also arrested), today,” Machado wrote on the social network X, while describing the former deputy as a “great friend” who, when “he gives his word, keeps his word.”

“He knew the risk he was taking and yet he accompanied Venezuelans in Caracas today as a testimony of responsibility and dedication to this cause,” said the opposition leader.

He also said that the Venezuelan government has “completely lost all sense of reality” and that is one more sign of its collapse.”

On Wednesday, other Venezuelan opposition members also denounced the arrest of Pilieri, as well as his son, after the occupants of two vehicles and three motorcycles allegedly chased him through Caracas, after participating in the demonstration against the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).

The Comando con Venezuela – campaign team of the standard-bearer of the majority opposition coalition, Edmundo González Urrutia, – shared videos in X of the vehicles that were chasing Pilieri, as well as the leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, who published on the social network that he was “free from an attempted arrest.”

The campaign team said that, according to the last location of his phone, Pilieri was arrested and transferred to the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin)in Caracas, known as El Helicoide.

#URGENT 2:06pm They chase @BiagioPilieri to kidnap him.

The leader of @ConvergenciaVe was leaving the mobilization for the month of July 28.

We alert the international community and hold the regime responsible for whatever may happen to it. pic.twitter.com/KUb1AMpko2

— ConVzla Command (@ConVzlaComando) August 28, 2024

IACHR denounces increased repression in Venezuela

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Wednesday denounced an increase in “repression” in Venezuela following the presidential elections of July 28, the official result of which was questioned by a large part of the international community.

IACHR President Roberta Clarke presented a report to a Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in Washington, on the human rights situation in the Caribbean country.

The IACHR said in the report, which was not prepared on the ground, that it had observed “arbitrary use of force” as well as arrests that included minors.

According to official figures, more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29 – some in demonstrations and others in police operations – and 25 have been killed in acts of violence that the government attributes to the opposition, while anti-Chavez supporters blame the state security forces, on orders from their superiors.