Crisis in Venezuela: Justice First opposition party reports more arbitrary detentions

Henrique Capriles: ‘Requesting that results that should be in the public domain be published IS NOT A CRIME’

Juan Manuel Allueva, left, and Rita Capri, were arrested on Thursday in Venezuela after campaigning for an opposition party, according to Justice First party representatives. (Courtesy photos)

The Justice First, or Primero Justicia, an opposition political party in Venezuela, reported more arbitrary detentions on Friday.

Nicolas Maduro promised Thursday that his first order of business was to fill two maximum security prisons with dissenters who turned out to the streets after Sunday’s election.

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FILE - Opposition leaders Henrique Capriles, left, and Maria Corina Machado meet July 3, 2017, in Caracas, Venezuela. On Friday, Capriles denounced the arbitrary detentions of two leaders of his Justice First party. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File) (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Henrique Capriles, one of the exiled co-founders of the center-right party, reported his concern for Rita Capri, the party’s vice president of training and programs in Turmero, Aragua.

“A social fighter, believer in God, peace and education, but above all INNOCENT,” Capriles wrote on X. “Requesting that results that should be in the public domain be published IS NOT A CRIME. It is barbaric to persecute, harass and imprison Venezuelans who want change and expressed it with their VOTE.”

Detainees' families gather outside the Boleita National Police detention center after their loved ones were arrested during opposition protests in recent days against the official results of the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Members of the party reported Capri was arrested at her home. They also denounced the arbitrary detention of Juan Manuel Allueva, a political coordinator of the party’s regional board, Thursday in San Juan de Los Morros, Guárico.

“She was kidnapped by the regime yesterday. At 11 at night in Turmero. We don’t know her whereabouts. WE DEMAND HER FREEDOM,” Capri’s son Alessandro Capri wrote Friday morning on X.

Nicolas Maduro holds a Bible during his news conference at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Capriles, a lawyer, is the former governor of Miranda and former mayor of Baruta. He ran for president against Hugo Chavez in 2012 and against Maduro in 2013.

Capriles has accused Maduro of abusing his power and expressed his support for María Corina Machado, who declared evidence showed Edmundo Gonzalez had won against Maduro Sunday by a landslide.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, right, and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez hold a press conference after electoral authorities declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Maduro’s administration had already barred Capriles and Machado from running for office in Venezuela.

Maduro loyalist, Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly known as the “cold psychiatrist,” called for Gonzalez and Machado to be imprisoned on Tuesday.

Maduro said Wednesday he wanted the opposition leaders jailed for 30 years. On Thursday, the U.S. recognized Machado as Venezuela’s new president-elect.

The Maduro loyalists who run the country’s electoral body have not released the precinct-by-precinct-level vote counts. The opposition reported collecting 80% of the voting machine’s tally reports.

Related story: Masked assailants ransack Venezuela opposition’s headquarters as post-election tensions mount


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