The NGO Foro Penal accounts in Venezuela 884 political prisonersof which 85 have another citizenship or dual nationality, according to a bulletin released this Saturday, which has a cut-off date of November 3.
In the report, published on the social network X, the non-governmental organization detailed that among those detained there are 767 men and 117 women. The listing specifies that 880 are adults and four adolescents between 14 and 17 years old.
Of the total, 711 are civilians and 173 are militarysaid Foro Penal, which stressed that this list “does not yet include all those who have been arrested and released or remain under short-term arrest (48 hours).”
The majority of those detained were captured after the presidential elections of July 2024, in which the electoral body – controlled by Chavismo – proclaimed the dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, as the winner, despite complaints of “fraud” from the majority opposition, grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
Both Maduro and the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, deny that there are people detained in the country for political reasonsbut – they claim – they committed crimes, a claim that several NGOs and opposition leaders reject.
On November 3, the NGO Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón warned about the increase in arrests in Venezuela “without sufficient public information” about the cases, which it considered a “scenario of legal insecurity and prolonged anguish” due to this “opacity” and also due to the “denial of access to legal assistance” that it claims exists in the country.
In its “circumstances or whereabouts of persons deprived of liberty.”
In this context, he stated that this situation constitutes a “direct violation of the fundamental rights of the affected people, in particular the right to personal freedom, due process and physical and moral integrity, as well as the right of their families to know the truth about their whereabouts.”
Therefore, he demanded that the Venezuelan authorities guarantee “immediate and truthful” information about the identity, whereabouts and legal situation of all detained persons, as well as “unrestricted access to trusted lawyers and the possibility of communicating with their families,” as – he emphasized – established by the Constitution and the international treaties signed by the State.
(With information from EFE)
