Michelle Bachelet must forcefully demand the release of all political prisoners in Venezuela. “We cannot decrease national and international pressure on this issue. We are talking about innocent human beings who claim freedom, ” said Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, after asking the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for “greater pressure ”on the matter.
“I must refer to the update of the recent report of the UN High Commissioner, in which she continues to insist on the existence of political prisoners, and the unfortunate thing is that she continues to insist that she is not allowed to visit the detention centers in which most political prisoners have denounced torture. Antonia Turbay (67) is one of them. She has not been visited by the UN and she has two prison release orders that have not been complied with by the Bolivarian Service of National Intelligence, ” said the lawyer and human rights advocate.
Romero referred to cases such as doctors José Alberto Marulanda and Williams Aguado, who “remain without trial and without due process.” Also, a group of 13 pemons (native Venezuelans) that have been held incommunicado from their relatives for 2 months.
He also mentioned the case of Yoslen Broadbelt, a 17-year-old boy, arbitrarily detained for alleged links to the alleged armed assault in Santa Elena de Uairén. “He was arrested for no reason and was missing for a month. He was selling bananas with a wheelbarrow in Santa Elena de Uairén, when they took him with them, ” said Romero in a press conference Monday while in the company of relatives of the victims.
“As a cry for help, we ask the High Commissioner to be tougher on this. Since here in Venezuela there are representatives of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, they must daily insist on this situation,” he insisted.
To date, Foro Penal registers 328 political prisoners in the country and 9,078 people undergoing open processes with measures that restrict their freedom.
Alfredo Romero concluded: “Political prisoners continue to exist. Repression is not a coincidence or a consequence of a situation, it is a formula of the government to stay in power”.
