2024-04-29 04:31:34
Two new opponents were arrested on Sunday in Venezuela, after a meeting on Friday by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado ahead of the July 28 presidential election, opposition parties announced.
The authorities have not yet confirmed or commented on these arrests.
The arrests of Ambar Marquez and Victor Castillo, two members of Maria Corina Machado’s campaign headquarters in the north-central state of Portuguesa, come the day after the arrest of Oscar Castaneda, an activist who had spoke at the opposition meeting on Friday.
“That’s three executives arrested in the last 24 hours,” wrote Ms. Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, on X.
Oscar Castaneda and Victor Castillo are members of Vente Venezuela, while Ambar Marquez belongs to the Primero Justicia (PJ) party of Henrique Capriles, an opposition figure who has supported Ms. Machado.
“The regime has once again shown its oppressive and violent nature by kidnapping three activists from Portuguesa state,” PJ said on X.
Before these arrests, seven opposition leaders – accused of conspiracy – were arrested since January while six others, accused of the same charge, took refuge at the residence of the Argentine ambassador.
The opposition has been denouncing for months a strategy of harassing the opposition with arrests, legal proceedings and obstacles in the presidential race.
Ms. Machado, winner of the opposition primary and favorite in the polls, was declared ineligible. The opposition tried in vain to register to replace her an academic with the same first name Corina Yoris before registering, provisionally, the diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, who had agreed to help.
Outgoing President Nicolas Maduro is seeking a third 6-year term.
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