Venezuelan opponents condemn the arrest of Milciades Ávila, Machado’s security chief

Several Venezuelan opponents on Wednesday condemned the arrest of the head of security for anti-Chavez leader María Corina Machado, Milciades Ávila, who is accused of alleged “gender violence against women” that, last Saturday, according to the former deputy, they tried to attack her and the presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.

>>> Context: Milciades Ávila, head of security for Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, arrested

On his X account, González Urrutia described the arrest as “arbitrary”, while two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said that this action “adds to a long list of persecution, harassment and arrests” by the Governmentwhich seeks to “sow terror” with 11 days to go before the presidential elections.

“In the early hours of the morning, they once again entered a home and took a person without respecting the due process established in the Constitution and with the utmost impunity,” Capriles said on the same social network.

For his part, anti-Chavez activist Juan Pablo Guanipa said that Ávila “what he did was restrain some ladies, deputies, who went to attack María Corina Machado.”

“In this case, the perpetrator becomes the victim. That is, the women who attacked Milciades and wanted to attack María Corina are now decorated.”Guanipa said in a video also published on X.

Earlier, Machado said that “there are dozens of witnesses and videos” that show that what happened last Saturday was an act of “planned provocation.” to leave her “unprotected” in the run-up to the elections.

The opposition leader held the head of state, Nicolás Maduro, responsible for the “physical integrity” of Ávila and for what may happen to “another 24 people” from his team and González Urrutia’s, who – she said – are “kidnapped and today prisoners of the tyranny.”

Venezuelan authorities have arrested 102 people linked to González Urrutia’s campaign this yearto which Ávila is now added, the NGO Foro Penal denounced on Tuesday.

Of the 102 arrests – some for a few hours and others with imprisonment to date – 77 occurred since the formal start of the campaign on July 4, reflecting “a clear pattern of action against activists, militants, even collaborators or people who provide services” to González Urrutia and Machado, said Gonzalo Himiob, director of the Penal Forum.

In addition to González Urrutia, nine other candidates will compete for the presidency in the elections on July 28, including Maduro, who will seek his third term.

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