Warning of Persecution in Venezuela’s Electoral Campaign

July 21, 2024

The presidential election is next Sunday July 28th

Crowds have mobilized peacefully in Venezuela during the campaign to elect a president on July 28. However, a climate of political persecution persists and dozens of activists and people who serve the opposition candidacy have been detained, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Photo: Cocuyo Effect

Nicolas Maduro made public statements claiming if he does not win reelection, the country “could fall into a bloodbath, into a civil war.”

Por IPS

HAVANA TIMES – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) alerted on Friday July 19th about “political persecution in Venezuela,” and urged the government to “end repression and ensure a free, competitive, and participatory presidential election” on July 28.

The statement from the hemispheric body explicitly mentioned that “on July 17, the president and commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, Nicolas Maduro, made public statements claiming that if he does not win re-election, the country could fall into a bloodbath, into a civil war.”

“Such speeches by the highest authority of the State and the security forces have the effect of intimidating and curtailing the political freedom of the electorate,” according to the IACHR and its special rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.

Additionally, “they raise doubts about the potential transfer of power in the event of a favorable outcome for the opposition,” the statement indicated.

Venezuelans are called to elect a president for the 2025-2031 term from among 10 candidates, including the current ruler, Nicolas Maduro, flag bearer of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela and 12 allied organizations.

On the opposite side, the most well-known polls place retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the favorite, replacing leader María Corina Machado, who won a primary of the main opposition coalition last year but could not run due to being disqualified by the authorities.

This coalition, Democratic Unitary Platform, denounced on July 18 that since the start of the campaign in June, at least 62 activists or people who have provided services to the opposition campaign have been permanently or temporarily detained for hours or days.

Currently, there are more than 300 civilians and military detained, whom the NGO Penal Forum considers political prisoners. Their reports are regularly certified by the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Maduro’s government withdrew from the OAS in April 2019.

The IACHR stated, “in this context of political persecution, in 2024, attacks on opposition leaders, arbitrary detentions of activists, journalists, and members of opposition campaigns, including Rocío San Miguel and María Corina Machado’s security chief, have been documented.”

San Miguel, detained since February, presided over a civil organization dedicated to security and defense issues, and Milcíades Avila, security chief for Machado – who is campaigning for Gonzalez in large marches across the country – was detained for 30 hours in the past week.

The IACHR added to the panorama that there have been “closures of media and businesses, harassment of campaign committees and supporters (including business owners), as well as administrative disqualifications of candidates for elected positions.”

“These events affect democratic institutions and the freedoms of association, assembly, and expression, as they discourage the political participation of opposition individuals, their electorate, and the citizenry in general,” the statement explained.

Both the commission and its rapporteur insisted that as the presidential elections approach, there is regression and non-compliance with guarantees for the exercise of civil and political rights in the South American country.

They reiterated the view that “these attacks, coupled with the absence of independent and impartial institutions, are part of a pattern by the government to perpetuate itself in power through arbitrariness, human rights violations, and lack of accountability.”

Therefore, they urged the Venezuelan state to “adopt urgent measures aimed at rebuilding the separation and independence of public powers.”

Finally, they “called on the regional and international community to continue closely monitoring the presidential election and to encourage the Venezuelan government to ensure that it takes place with the full exercise of the civil and political rights of the population.”

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