Relatives of opponents detained in Venezuela demand to see them

Several Venezuelan opponents arrested days after the presidential elections of July 28 have not seen their relatives for more than 80 days. This Tuesday, they said they had not even been able to verify whether they are alive and denounce serious violations of their human rights.

The political leader of the Voluntad Popular party, Freddy Superlano, is 112 days after being intercepted and arrested by alleged hooded intelligence agents; former parliamentarian Américo de Grazia, 104 days; Perkins Rocha, lawyer for opposition leader María Corina Machado, 84 days; and the journalist and former parliamentarian, Biagio Pilieri, 83 days.

All of them, according to their families and lawyers, are political prisoners who are in a situation of forced disappearance, and have been prevented from having access to private defense.

“We want to believe that they are alive, we want to believe that they are well, but we are not certain of anything,” said María Constanza Cipriani, Rocha’s wife, also legal advisor to the political organization, Vente Venezuela, and witness before the National Council. Electoral (CNE) of the campaign command of former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.

“We are going in an act of absolute faith to bring what we assume they need. We make a market-like list, which the people who take care of them, who they call custodians, dictate to us, because supposedly those letters are made by them,” Cipriani said.

“Hostages are them and us, because every family that has a relative behind bars is a hostage. Besides, we are harassed. We are afraid to express ourselves, afraid for our families, afraid because our words could harm our stay in that horrific place of confinement,” she continued, ensuring that their homes are continually monitored.

“They are not terrorists”

Aurora Silva, Superlano’s wife, reiterated that they have not been able to have any type of communication with their relatives and said she feels special concern. after death, due to lack of timely medical attentionfrom a table witness in the presidential elections and a member of Machado’s party who was arrested in Anzoátegui, in the east of the country.

“They are not terrorists, they are accused of a series of charges that do not define any of them, their only crime has been defending the will of the people, which was expressed here on July 28. Our call is for the full freedom of our relatives and all political prisoners,” he said.

President Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed the winner of the elections, but the opposition, which published copies of the minutes kept by its table witnesses, denounced fraud and attributed the victory to González Urrutia, currently in “forced” exile in Spain.

Part of the international community has not recognized Maduro as the winner and has called for independent verification of the results that caused protests that left 28 people dead and more than 2,400 detained.

The relatives of the detained opponents called on the international community to implement “more forceful and urgent” actions, given the context in the country.

Raiseida de Grazia, daughter of Américo de Grazia, asked a mission of the International Criminal Court (ICC) deployed in Venezuela to intercede so that they are allowed to verify the health status of her relatives.

“We are trying to get them to receive us,” added María Livia de Pilieri, Pilieri’s wife.

No right to private defense

Lawyer Joel García recalled that the minimum right of a person deprived of liberty, beyond health, is the right to defense.

“It has not been possible. I do not want to say that the public defenders have not done something, but we know that they are subordinates of the Judiciary, and they follow instructions,” he said.

“How is it possible that today neither their family nor their lawyers have been able to have contact with them? This systematic violation of the human rights of these people should not continue to occur,” added lawyer Omar Mora Tosta.

The most recent report from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM) warned that human rights violations in the country have worsened after the elections.

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