Régulo Reina, a union leader from Venezuela, was arrested by the Nicolás Maduro regime

Venezuelan opposition parties and leaders denounced the arrest of the union leader Régulo Reina in a town in the state of Monagas (east) by “officials of the regime” of President Nicolás Madurowho was accused of carrying out an electoral campaign with “violence“, in view of the presidential elections on July 28.

>>> You may be interested in: Milciades Ávila, head of security for opposition leader María Corina Machado, released

The Human Rights Committee of Vente Venezuela – a group led by opposition leader María Corina Machado – assured, through X, that the union leader was arrested “arbitrarily” for “assuming the commitment to freedom” of the country.

In this regard, former deputy María Gabriela Hernández pointed out that, “days ago,” Reina, also a political activist, participated in a “great event” in support of the presidential candidate of the main opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) -, Edmundo González Urrutia.

Reina “His leadership has been cemented in the union struggles for the demands of the oil industry and in Chavismo itself.“He said on X Hernández, who added that he was captured in an “arbitrary” manner by police officers from Monagas, a region where the majority opposition plans to hold a proselytizing activity this Saturday.

Arrest of Régulo Reina, arbitrary

The Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) condemned, through X, the “arbitrary detention of the social leader” 10 days before the elections, reiterating its denunciation of “the implementation, by the corrupt leadership of the Government and (the ruling party) PSUV, of a plan aimed at intimidating and promoting abstention” seeing that “they do not have popular support.”

For his part, former governor César Pérez Vivas also expressed on that social network that this arrest “It shows the state terrorism applied by Nicolás Maduro“.

As of Wednesday, according to the PUD, security officials had arrested 72 people since the campaign began on July 4, of whom more than 20 remain in prison.

González Urrutia said on Thursday that the “intimidation” and arrests are acts of “intolerable cowardice that threaten the development of the process,” and he urged the National Electoral Council (CNE) to act “in the face of these events.”

Machado, for her part, denounced an increase in “repression” on Thursday, when she warned of the cutting of “the brake hoses” of one of the vehicles in which she and her team travel the country, an event she described as an “attack.”

On July 28, the country will hold presidential elections in which ten candidates will compete, including Maduro, who is seeking a third six-year term in power.

>>> See also: Maduro insults Milei by accusing him of wanting to sabotage elections in Venezuela