Human rights activists reported Friday that they had records of 79 teenagers who were arrested after protests erupted Monday in reaction to the results of the July 28 presidential election.
During regular public addresses in response to the protests, Nicolas Maduro and his administration claimed the opposition was to blame for brainwashing the troubled teenagers.
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The activists with Foro Penal, a well-established nongovernmental organization, reported the teenagers were among the 835 cases they had recorded from Monday to Friday in Venezuela, and they were reviewing the nature of 11 murders during the protests.
Laura Valbuena, a law professor who is a Foro Penal activist, reported on X that in Zulia a 13-year-old boy was among the detainees and a 15-year-old boy was among the murder victims. Grieving relatives identified the slain teen as Isaías Fuenmayor and said he was on his way home when he was shot during a protest.
The Caracas-based NGO provides pro bono legal assistance nationwide and tracks human rights abuses was searching for Kennedy Tejeda, a defense attorney who vanished while searching for detainees in Carabobo.
Luis Armando Betancourt, a Venezuelan attorney and human rights activist, reported on Friday night on X that Kennedy had been detained and was in the custody of the military counterintelligence agency.
Betancourt described Kennedy as a “Human Rights Defender, who voluntarily went to defend the constitution and the law.”
During a public speech, Maduro said “groups of drugged and armed criminals” had killed two Venezuelan National Guard soldiers during attacks that were part of a “premeditated plan by fascists.”
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab played videos during a news conference describing protesters as “psychopaths” and accusing them of terrorism and inciting hate.
Human rights activists reported the list of college students detained in Caracas included Universidad Central de Venezuela students María Méndez, Keiver Rincón, Armando Solís, Anthony Granadillo, and Rafael Sivira; and 25 students from Universidad Nacional Experimental de la Seguridad.
ProVea, a non-governmental organization based in Caracas, reported Thursday there were 19 murders and alerted on Friday there was an escalation of “illegal raids” against civilians.
Aside from controlling the police and military, Venezuela’s socialist party loyalists also have control of the National Electoral Council and the judicial system.
Acceso A La Justicia, a nongovernmental organization based in Caracas, reported violations of “the right to political participation” when “there were limitations on witnesses and access to the minutes.”
The organization’s list of violations also includes preventing “accredited national witnesses” from accessing the totalization room, stopping the transmission after receiving 30% of the minutes; and there were incongruencies between the minutes and the announced results.
The opposition claimed that in anticipation of electoral fraud volunteers collected about 80% of the tally sheets that electronic voting machines printed after polls closed.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado announced during a news conference that the data had contradicted the electoral council’s official results.
Machado declared Edmundo González had won by a landslide and not Maduro who the opposition blames for the economic failures and the refugee crisis.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration sided with the opposition and recognized González, a retired diplomat, as Venezuela’s true president-elect.
Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization based in London, condemned the arrests “of people for protesting” and called for the “unrestricted respect for the right to defense” and an end to “ill-treatment and torture.”
Meanwhile, Maduro referred to Vente Venezuela, Machado’s political party as a “terrorist organization” and called for her and González to be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In front of his supporters, Maduro also threatened to fill two prisons with protesters and to punish them with forced labor and re-education.
“All fascist criminals will go to Tocorón and Tocuyito, to maximum security prisons, so that they can pay for their crimes before the people,” Maduro said Thursday.
Opposition members of the First Justice, or Primero Justicia, party reported Friday that their list of arbitrary arrests was getting longer.
The party’s list included Edward Ocariz, a human rights leader in Caracas; Juan Manuel Allueva, a coordinator in Guarico; Rita Capriti, a leader in Aragua; and Mayra Castro, a leader in Miranda.
The opposition party Popular Will, or Voluntad Popular, demanded updates on the whereabouts of Roland Carreño, a coordinator for the party; and of Baritas Gov. Freddy Superlano, the party’s national coordinator.
“He should be released immediately. Working for democratic change is not a crime, we demand an end to persecution and intimidation,” González wrote on X. “The truth is the path to peace.”
Superlano’s wife, Aurora Superlano, asked for prayers and wrote on X Friday night, “84 difficult, painful hours have passed for our entire family and each of my husband’s friends.”