This content was published on April 29, 2022 – 4:33 p.m. April 29, 2022 – 4:33 p.m
Caracas, April 29 (EFE).- The Venezuelan NGO Penal Forum confirmed this Friday that the Caribbean country is holding 240 people they consider political prisoners, the same number as in its last published report on April 21.
The organization’s director, Gonzalo Himiob, stated on his Twitter account that out of the total number of detainees, 226 were men, 14 women and one minor, of whom 110 were civilians and 130 were military.
Himiob stressed that 9,414 people continue to face “unfair criminal trials for political reasons under precautionary measures.”
Numerous humanitarian organizations on Wednesday sent a letter to Argentine President Alberto Fernández urging him to ask the Venezuelan government to release “political prisoners”, most notably human rights activist Javier Tarazona.
The organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), also expressed disagreement with Alberto Fernández’s diagnosis of the situation in Venezuela.
Last week, Fernández, speaking to the press alongside Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, who was visiting Buenos Aires, said many of Venezuela’s problems “have unraveled over time.”
According to the signatories, the “arbitrary” detention of Javier Tarazona, who has been detained for several months despite his ailing health, is “a paradigmatic example of the intolerance and abuses of Nicolás Maduro’s government.”
“We believe it is important that any communication with the Venezuelan authorities emphasizes the need to end censorship and the systematic campaign against independent journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organizations, as well as the release of the 239 political prisoners held in Venezuela,” it said in the writing.
The organizations called on Fernández to “publicly” ask the authorities for the release of Tarazona, director of the human rights organization Fundaredes, who has been imprisoned since July 2, 2021 on charges of treason, terrorism and incitement to hatred. EFE
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