Chavismo raids house where Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was staying during election campaign

Former Venezuelan MP Walter Márquez, director of the NGO International Committee against Impunity in Venezuela (Ciciven), denounced the incident on social networks on Thursday afternoon. The house where the opposition leader was staying was raided. Maria Corina Machado During his visit on June 27 and 28 to the state of Tachira As part of the election campaign for the upcoming presidential elections.

“The crime of political persecution continues against sectors linked to Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia.”Marquez said, also referring to the presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic Platform Unitary (PUD) coalition.

The human rights activist reported that officials from the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions (DAET) and the Criminal Investigation Division (DIP) in Bolivarian National Police (PNB) Its members entered the aforementioned house and the industrial warehouses belonging to the same family.

Lawyer Omar Mora Tosta added in a post on X (formerly Twitter): Businessman Ricardo Albacete Vidal, the owner of the house that was raided, was arbitrarily arrested on Thursday afternoon in Caracas, and there is still no information about his whereabouts.

Walter Marquez said last Tuesday that masked individuals carrying firearms entered the house where Machado was staying while he was visiting Palmira, in the state of Tachira.

Marquez confirmed on Thursday that the Ciciven Foundation and the El Amparo Foundation They will continue to investigate the case for urgent referral to Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and the Organization of American States. He pointed out that “Maduro has failed to fulfill the commitment he made on April 24 with Attorney General Karim Khan to guarantee electoral rights enshrined in the Constitution and international treaties.”

On the other hand, the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference (CEV) requested this Thursday To stop “persecution and harassment” To those providing the necessary tools for political rallies ahead of the presidential elections on July 28, as well as ensuring freedom of movement for candidates.

“It is necessary for the peace of the citizen to stop persecuting and harassing those who provide the necessary tools for rallies and freedom of movement for candidates. Various options for government option“CEV said in a statement posted on its website. He added that this It is an “atypical” electoral process, in which there is no equal opportunity for all.

CEV stressed that citizens are being given a new opportunity to make decisions through “Conscious and free” voting. Which produces “a profound reform of democracy, civil society and quality of life.” He pointed out: “Voting is therefore of vital importance in the current reality we are living; and we will only be able to advance in the reconstruction of the country by overcoming abstention and political apathy.

The presidential candidate of the opposition majority in Venezuela, Edmundo Gonzalez UrrutiaHe started traveling with his own food to campaign events. Avoid new facility closures, After the regime imposed sanctions on a restaurant that served him last Sunday in Kojedes (center).

“I will leave with my food to avoid situations like the one on Sunday, when they closed the restaurant (…) because they served us as kindly as they did,” said the candidate of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest anti-Chavista coalition.

He pointed out that this case “joins other cases that prove that.” “The authorities’ disrespect for Venezuelans” Referring to 16 other institutions – according to the Venezuelan opposition – that have been closed or searched in recent weeks by the Chavista regime, after receiving González Urrutia or María Corina Machado.

Among those sanctioned were hotel and restaurant workers, as well as independent workers who provided some services to the opposition, such as boatmen, motorcyclists, sound technicians and drivers, who, in some cases, suffered temporary arrest, a ban on sailing or the withholding of machinery from work, on the grounds of lack of documentation or records.

(With information from EFE)