“We have 2,000 prisoners captured and from there they go to (the prisons) Tocorón and Tocuyito, maximum punishment, justice. This time there will be no forgiveness, this time there will be no forgiveness, this time what is going to be Tocorón,” said Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, announced on Saturday that 2,000 people have been arrested in the Caribbean nation in protests against the official result of the presidential elections, of which the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed the president as the winner.
“We have 2,000 prisoners captured and from there they go to (the prisons) Tocorón and Tocuyito, maximum punishment, justice. This time there will be no forgiveness, this time there will be no forgiveness, this time what is going to be Tocorón,” said the president in front of supporters who marched this Saturday in Caracas.
Maduro argued that what the detainees did was “very serious,” so – he said – there will be “full justice.”
The president accused the detained protesters of allegedly burning polling stations, as well as regional CNE headquarters.
“Everyone confesses, all because there has been a strict legal process, led by the Attorney General’s Office, with full guarantees and everyone is convicted and confessed,” he added.
On Thursday, Maduro ordered the detentions that have left the protests in Venezuela in these two prisons, against the electoral result, which ratified it as the winner, which has been questioned by the majority opposition and much of the international community.
“I am preparing two prisons, which I must have ready in 15 days, were already preparing (Tocorón and Tocuyito), and all the guarimberos (violent protesters) go to” these prisons, he said then, during a meeting with businessmen, in which he reiterated that the detainees are part of a coup d’état against them.
Meanwhile, relatives of detainees in the protests and several NGOs reported that the State prevents them from being assisted by private defence and from having contact with their relatives.
On Thursday, the legal coordinator of the NGO Foro Penal, Stefania Migliorini, told EFE that some captured are being presented “in terrorism courts” and without access to a defense with private lawyers.
The NGO Foro Penal computes from Monday until 15:00 local time (19:00 GMT) this Saturday 939 arrested related to the protests, including 90 teenagers, in addition to 11 civilians killed and one military.
This article has been translated after first appearing in La Prensa Grafica