UN ‘deeply concerned’ about ‘arbitrary detentions’ in Venezuela

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The United Nations expressed alarm Thursday over reports of arbitrary detentions and intimidation of opponents of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro ahead of his inauguration for a hotly contested third term.

UN rights chief Volker Turk is “deeply concerned by further reports of arbitrary detention and intimidation”, his office said on X.

“Now is the time to work to ease tensions and reduce the risk of more violence. Dialogue is paramount,” he said.

Ahead of planned protests aimed at preventing Friday’s inauguration, Turk stressed that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, to freedom of expression and to have opinions without interference”.

After an election in July that many believe was stolen, beleaguered opposition leaders have vowed to come out of hiding and exile to lead Thursday’s mass protests.

The opposition has called on “millions” of Venezuelans to demonstrate in support of its exiled presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who the United States and several Latin American countries have recognized as the legitimate election winner.

Venezuela-based opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has been in hiding since the election, has vowed to join the protests.

Meanwhile, opposition parties and NGOs reported a new wave of arrests, including Enrique Marquez, a press freedom activist and anti-Maduro politician.

Turk highlighted the arrest of Espacio Publico’s director of press freedom NGO Carlos Correa, as well as “opposition members and their relatives”.

Espacio Publico said Correa was detained in central Caracas by “hooded men believed to be government officials.”

After Maduro claimed electoral victory in July elections, more than 2,400 people were arrested, while 28 were killed and around 200 injured in protests and riots.

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