A death threat against Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado dawned on a wall on Wednesday in Zaraza, Guárico, a plain state in southeastern Caracas, where he is campaigning for presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
Get out of here, traitor. María Corina, we don’t want you in my village, we’re going to kill you, the Llano Train awaits you,” said the message written in red on a wall near a street where he is expected to participate in an act with citizens.
The image was released by human rights activist Tamara Suju and replicated on the social networks of Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela.
The threat that, according to the wall, was attributed to the Llano Train, one of the first criminal mega-bands to emerge in Venezuela and that, according to the Insight Crime organization operates mainly in the center of the country, was hidden with white paint, Gabriel Diancourth, youth coordinator of Vente Venezuela in Zaraza, reported.
Machado’s party, winner of the presidential primary, but disqualified from holding public office, alerted the international community to the incident and held President Nicolas Maduro’s government responsible for whatever happens.
We call on the international community to these threats to the life of our leader “MariaCorinaYA” and his team. “Beyond the pronouncements” – real actions that allow respect for the rights of all Venezuelans who want elections,” said the Human Rights Committee of Vente Venezuela in a message in X.
Machado warned Monday that a new wave of repression is taking place in Venezuela, after five people, including militants of opposition parties, have been arrested since last Friday.
Javier Cisneros, national youth coordinator and Gabriel Gonzalez, a member of the press team, were intercepted by intelligence agents on Monday when they went out to buy lunch near the party’s main headquarters in Caracas.
Cisneros was released the same day, but González is still under arrest and according to lawyer Omar Mora Tosta, the court filing hearing was deferred.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported Wednesday that along with Gonzalez, political leaders Juan Iriarte, Jeancarlos Rivas and journalist Luis López, arrested between Friday and Saturday, were charged for allegedly committing the crimes of incitement to hatred and association.
According to the prosecutor, the defendants tried to enter a commando of the Bolivarian National Guard in the state of La Guaira, with the intention of, he said, to create injuries to the troops there. He also said there are arrest warrants against Johny Rivas and Jhillkys Alcila, members of the opposition campaign command.
At least 37 political leaders, as well as social leaders, have been arrested so far this year, Machado reported this week.
Ten close collaborators of the 56-year-old opposition leader, former MP and engineer are in prison for allegedly being involved in organizing alleged destabilizing plans. Six other members of his party are in asylum at the Argentine embassy in Caracas.
González Urrutia said this week that the recent actions violate the agreements on electoral guarantees signed by the government and the opposition in Barbados.
The Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere of the United States, Brian Nichols, said Tuesday that the latest arrests and the “continuing,” harassment of members of the opposition are very worrying – on the eve of the presidential elections of July 28.
Venezuelan candidates and activists should be able to campaign peacefully and without intimidation, he wrote in X.
Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yvan Gil, responded by saying Nichols interferes with matters that do not correspond to him and questioned what he described as “attempts to interfere in the electoral process.”
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Mundo