Venezuela: Death in prison of a fourth leader in four months denounced by the opposition
Venezuela's opposition leader on Monday denounced the death in prison of a fourth influential member of her movement, arrested after President Nicolas Maduro 's disputed re-election last year. In a message on X, Maria Corina Machado claimed that President Maduro's government had "assassinated" Reinaldo Araujo.
The latter had been arrested on January 9, the day before Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term, following elections that the opposition and part of the international community consider fraudulent. Reinaldo Araujo "had serious health problems, but he was denied medical assistance. Until today, when it was too late," said Maria Corina Machado .
Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of the July 2024 presidential election with 52% of the vote by the Electoral Council, which has not, however, made public the minutes of the polling stations, saying it was the victim of a computer hack deemed implausible by many observers. The opposition has published the minutes provided by its scrutineers and assures that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained more than 67% of the vote.
The announcement of Nicolas Maduro's re-election sparked spontaneous protests that left 28 dead and 200 injured, according to official sources. Some 2,400 people were arrested, of whom around 1,900 were released in the following weeks and months, according to Caracas. However, activists denounce the fact that the arrests of opponents have not stopped.
Another leading member of Maria Corina Machado’s party, Jesus Manuel Martinez, 36, died in prison last November. Two others, Jesus Rafael Alvarez, 44, and Alexander Gonzalez Perez, 43, died in December. Since 2014, at least a dozen “ political prisoners ” have died in Venezuela, according to human rights activists.
The families of the detainees have protested several times to denounce acts of torture and mistreatment against their imprisoned relatives. In mid-February, the NGO Foro Penal, which documents the number of political prisoners in Venezuela, counted 1,061 people arrested for political reasons in the country.
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