Caracas, 18 oct (EFE).- In Venezuela there are 1,936 detainees considered “political prisoners“, 20 more than last weekwhen 1,916 people were deprived of liberty for the same reasons, according to information from the NGO Foro Penal released this Friday.
Through X, the organization detailed that, Of the total number of detainees, 1,698 are men and 238 women, of which 1,868 are adults and 68 adolescents between 14 and 17 years old.
He specified that, of the total number of arrests, 1,814 were made after the presidential elections on July 28, when a crisis broke out due to the complaint of “fraud” made by the largest opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which affirms that Its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, is the elected president, compared to the official result, which gave re-election to Nicolás Maduro.
The post-election crisis unleashed protests that caused, according to the Executive, 27 deaths and more than 2,400 detainees, a figure that considerably exceeds that of Foro Penal.
The NGO explained to EFE that its figures are different from those announced by the authorities because the organization only counts arrests that qualify as “arbitrary”, that is, when “there are no elements of guilt.”
The Government blames the protesters – whom it links to the PUD – for generating “violence” and “vandalism” in several public venues, while the opposition accuses State security agents of “repression” in the protests.
Since 2014, Foro Penal has registered almost 18,000 “political arrests”, in addition to 9,000 people who remain “arbitrarily” subject to “measures restricting their freedom.”
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