Several dead and at least 46 arrested In the context of the protests that took place during the day on Monday in several localities in Venezuela in protest against the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro in the elections held this weekend
The Venezuelan Human Rights NGO Foro Penal has indicated the death of the young man Alejandro Graterol, 18, who was shot in the neck when he was protesting in Yaracuy. The same fate befell him a minor under 15 years old in San Francisco, in the oil-producing state of Zulia, and another young man in the vicinity of the protests that took place next to the Venezuelan Social Security Institute in the Caracas neighborhood of Antímano, which for years was the area where Chavismo obtained the highest percentage of support.
The National Hospital Survey added three names to the list: one in Caracas and two in Maracay, capital of Aragua, two hours from the capital
According to the Venezuelan human rights NGO Foro Penal, most of the arrests have taken place in Barinas, with 17 detentions, and Anzoátegui, with a dozen. The rest have occurred in Distrito Capital and Aragua, with six each; and in Zulia, Carabobo, Miranda and Mérida.
In addition to this, at least 23 members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces have been injured, some “with firearms”, having been “victims of violent acts”. “We will not allow Venezuela to return to the darkness of the years 2014, 2017 and 2019”, said the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Godfather.
The Maduro regime has activated its usual repression to appease the protesters and the head of the portfolio has taken the opportunity to make an appeal “to the citizens and the political forces of the country to remain calm and stay in the democratic game”: “Yesterday the Venezuelan people decided and gave us a demonstration of civility. Let us not fail the people who voted for peace yesterday.“, he insisted.
For his part, the attorney general of the Latin American country, Tarek William Saabreported that during the day “some small outbreaks of violence with the recurrent use of minors” have been detected. “There are already numerous people arrested nationwide for carrying out acts of vandalism that sought to undermine the peace of the country,” he added.
Saab has threatened that “The Public Prosecutor’s Office will punish with the maximum penalty those who intend to repeat the unpunished and murderous riots of 2014 and 2017“, in reference to the waves of nationwide protests against Maduro caused by the institutional crisis in the country and which resulted in more than a hundred dead, nearly 3,000 injured and more than a thousand arrested.
Source: Agencies
