A collaborator of the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado She recorded in a live broadcast how she was detained by the military, hours after criticizing an official campaign that calls for reporting cases of “hate” amid protests against the questioned re-election of Nicolás Maduro.
Maria Oropezacoordinator of Machado’s campaign command in the state of Portuguesa (center), He shared through his Instagram account the moment when officials from the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM) knock and force the door to enter his house.
“They are entering my home arbitrarily, there is no search warrant. “They are destroying the door, I really ask for help, I ask for help from everyone who can. I am not a criminal, I am just another citizen who wants a different country,” says Oropeza before the broadcast goes black.
Hours earlier, the collaborator had criticized the so-called “Operation Tun Tun” of the DGCIM, which enabled a telephone line to report cases of physical or virtual “hatred” in the midst of the measures that have been taken in response to the mobilizations unleashed after the presidential elections of July 28, which the opposition denounces as fraudulent.
As part of the campaign, the DGCIM is asking for information about the person who reported the incident, including the date, location, “physical or digital evidence that demonstrates the attack or threat” and their phone number or social profile, according to a publication by the director of the scientific police, Douglas Rico.
“This so-called ‘Operation Tun Tun’ lacks any legal argument, meaning that what we are really facing is a witch hunt (…) against all citizens who expressed themselves through voting on July 28,” Oropeza had said in a previous video posted on his social media.
Following the vote, the electoral authority declared Maduro re-elected for a third six-year term with 52% of the votes compared to 43% for the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, Machado’s representative after his disqualification from running.
Both leaders denounced electoral fraud and claim to have in their possession the records that prove the opposition victory.
The protests have left more than 2,200 people arrested, according to Maduro, and some 24 dead, according to human rights NGOs.
More than a hundred opposition activists have been arrested during the electoral period in Venezuela and Machado herself has announced that she is in hiding for fear of her life. González Urrutia has not appeared publicly for a week.
The prosecutor’s office announced a criminal investigation against the leaders and six trusted collaborators of the opposition remain sheltered in the Argentine embassy.
Machado condemned Oropeza’s arrest on social media and demanded his release.
Source: Ambito
