Maduro's electoral persecution of the opposition intensifies and there are already more than 300 political prisoners

Nicolás Maduro is stepping up his persecution against the Venezuelan opposition. The latest attack was the arrest of the head of security for opposition leader María Corina Machado. Milciades Avila was taken from his home and his whereabouts are unknown.

"Maria Corina Machado's head of security, Milciades Avila, has been kidnapped. Today at dawn, regime officials forcibly entered the house where he was, violating all legal procedures," Vente Venezuela assured in a message published on its account on the social network X.

With the arrest, Avila would join the long list of more than 300 political prisoners in Venezuela. Just hours before Avila's case became known, the Venezuelan Penal Forum - which keeps a registry of political prisoners - warned that there have been 114 arbitrary arrests for political purposes in 2024 so far.

Of those cases, 102 arrests are related to the team or tours of María Corina Machado and the opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo González. Meanwhile, the number of political prisoners in Venezuela stands at 301.

The director of the Penal Forum, Alfredo Romero, highlighted that in only ten days of the official campaign for the presidential elections, at least 77 arrests have been registered.

"In total there are 114, minus 12 people who are not directly related to that opposition group, or that campaign, or that national tour of the Unitary Platform," Romero said in a statement published on the NGO's official website.

Romero also maintained that systematic political oppression continues in Venezuela and expressed concern that the political prisoner curve continues to increase.

"Foro Penal shows its concern for this increase in oppression... Just this week there were 11 people detained, it is an important number and it seems that the arrests are going to continue, that is why we ask or demand that they do not occur," he said. 

Likewise, Romero explained that not all political prisoners are political activists. He pointed out that there are military personnel at the top of the list with the highest number "which are 152, followed by 149 civilians: 27 are women and 274 are men."

Gonzalo Himiob Santomé, vice-president director of Foro Penal, highlighted that all these arrests reflect "a clear pattern of action against activists, militants, even collaborators or people who provide their services" to the opposition leader.

"This constitutes a serious and very clear, very evident, indication that a systematic and generalized scheme of restriction is being carried out from power, against the citizens, due to the specific identity of a group of citizens who identify with the political option proposed by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González", said Himiob.

In his opinion, there is a "clear demonstration of crimes against humanity in these actions, as established in article seven of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court."