Adrián Romero is appointed mayor in charge of Maracaibo

The director of Public Services of the Mayor’s Office of Maracaibo, Adrián Romero was sworn in this Thursday as mayor in charge after the arrest of the opponent in office, Rafael Ramírez Colinareported his wife, Vanessa Linares.

“Following the honest work of our beloved mayor Rafael Ramírez Colina, who always guided us with decency, transparency and adherence to the law, we have sworn in our colleague Adrián Romero as mayor in charge,” Linares said in his account on the social network.

He assured that Romero It embodies the unity of the team of directors and the “integrity” of the councilors.

Juan Pablo Guanipa, who is active in Primero Justicia along with Ramírez Colina, stated on the same social network that the city will continue with “management that ensures the well-being of the Marabino people,” despite the mayor’s arrest.

«On the one hand, it is deplorable that the injustice of the arrest of the legitimate mayor, elected by the citizens, along with part of his team, has been committed. But on the other hand, our city will continue with a management that ensures the well-being of the Marabino people,” Indian.

On Tuesday, Linares denounced that workers at the Maracaibo Mayor’s Office are living in a “climate of persecution and intimidation.”

When you fight with the force of truth, no one can give up.

Today, that fight translates into the freedom of Rafael, Margarita, Diana, Pedro, David and in our firm decision to continue defending all our good people of Maracaibo.

Following the honest work of… pic.twitter.com/c6tALprusC

— Vanessa Linares De Ramírez (@vanessalinaresh) October 10, 2024

What are they accusing the mayor of Maracaibo of?

Ramírez Colina is accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of “serious irregular acts” related to corruption, while the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, accuses the opponent of giving resources obtained through tax collection to “far-right political parties.”

On Saturday, Linares denounced that the mayor has been prohibited from private defense, in a hearing at the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin), in which his “deprivation of liberty” was ratified.

The mayor is one of the 154 opposition politicians who, according to the opposition party María Corina Machado, Vente Venezuela, are imprisoned in the country, the majority after being apprehended in the weeks before and after the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro in the presidential elections on July 28, that has been questioned inside and outside the country.

In those elections, Ramírez Colina supported the candidacy of the majority opposition standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, and joined the “legitimate citizen request” that the electoral body “publish the results” disaggregated, after the complaint of “fraud” by the opposition, which claims that Maduro was defeated in the presidential election.