In the continuing crackdown on dissent, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has arrested around 2,000 critics and slapped insurrection charges on Opposition leaders
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Weeks after holding election widely held as fraudulent, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has launched a door-to-door hunt for critics and dissenters.
Dubbed ‘Operation Knock-Knock’, the hunt has put around 2,000 critics and dissenters in jail. This is in addition to at least 24 protesters whom Maduro’s regime forces and armed supporters have killed.
Even as Maduro’s regime has jailed around 2,000 people, human rights organisation Foro Penal has said that only 1,200-1,300 have been accounted for and the whereabouts of hundreds of those picked from the streets and homes by Maduro’s regime at will remain unknown. At least two mayors are known to be jailed and a former mayor and MP, Américo De Grazia, remains missing amid regime’s crackdown, according to The New York Times.
Last month, Venezuela held election that was already marred with systemic repression of the Opposition.
The principal Opposition leader, María Corina Machado, was barred from contesting and cases were slapped against her supporters and several Opposition leaders were jailed. Even then, surveys predicted victory for the joint Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzales.
The vote was marked by widespread voter suppression, violence by regime forces, and systemic efforts to hamper voting.
The Maduro-controlled election authority declared him the winner, but did not furnish any paper tallies to rectify the election result. The refusal to furnish paper tallies, the opaque counting process, and widespread voter suppression and repression of the Opposition have led to the widespread conclusion amongst Venezuelans and the international community that Maduro has stolen the election and is holding onto power illegally. The United States has recognised Gonzales as the winner.
Now, as Maduro finds himself facing a mass-movement in Venezuela, he has started using every resource at his disposal to crush voices against his victory that’s widely deemed fraudulent.
Critics picked up at will, slapped with terrorism
The family members of those arrested and human rights campaigners have told The Times that Maduro’s regime is arresting people at will en masse from the streets and is also carrying out targeted door-to-door arrests. It has been dubbed as Operation Knock-Knock.
“I have been documenting human rights violations in Venezuela for many years and have seen patterns of repression before. I don’t think I have ever seen this ferocity,” said Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, President of the Washington Office on Latin America.
The Maduro’s regime has urged supporters of Maduro to snitch on their neighbours and community members via official apps meant to report public grievances such as power lines failure, nuisance, etc, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper reported that people are being arrested even for sharing memes critical of the election.
People being picked up this way are being slapped with incitement of hatred and terrorism, as per the newspaper.
The activists told the paper that while some of those arrested are indeed vandals, many others were merely at the wrong place at the wrong time and were arrested at will by the regime forces.
Opposition leaders charged with insurrection
While Maduro’s forces are cracking down on dissenters and critics, the regime has also slapped Gonzalez —widely held as the rightful winner of election— with incitement of insurrection along the nation’s most popular leader Machado, according to The Daily Telegraph.
For the mass-movement against him, fuelled by what’s deemed as electoral fraud and decade of economic ruinous rule, Maduro has dubbed the protestors as “terrorists” and “fascists” and
has blamed far-right extremists and ‘Zionist media’ for the agitation against him.
Maduro’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab has reasoned that Gonzales and Machado are being investigated for incitement for insurrection as they appealed for the regime’s forces to side the people in their movement against Maduro’s election victory deemed to be fraudulent, according to The Telegraph.
In his decade-long rule, Maduro has presided over the economic ruin of Venezuela. Despite having the largest-known oil reserves in the world, Venezuela suffers from food shortage. Since he took over the country in 2013, the GDP has collapsed by 80 per cent and more than 7 million people have fled the country over food shortages and systemic repression by the regime.
A Gallup survey ahead of the election found that as many as 68 per cent Venezuelans struggled to find food and the conditions were such that even 59 per cent of the richest 20 per cent said they were unable to afford food because of inflation.
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Publish date : 2024-08-12 05:41:00
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