‘Much more persecution’: Venezuela braces for Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration | Nicolas Maduro News

Bogota, Colombia – Jesus Medina Ezaine had already spent 16 months in a Venezuelan military prison, accused of crimes he said were related to his work as a photojournalist.

But another prison stint seemed imminent, especially after the controversial re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

When Maduro was due to be sworn in for a third term, Medina, 43, made a difficult decision: fleeing his home in Venezuela for the relative safety of Bogota, the capital of neighboring Colombia.

“Before they could put me back in jail, I decided to escape,” Medina said.

Maduro’s government has long faced criticism for its alleged crackdown on political rivals. But Friday’s inauguration ceremony is set to bring the latest electoral crisis to a head, with observers warning that violence could escalate as Maduro strives to hang on to power.

“The regime will do everything they can to ensure that Maduro can be reinstated and that he can continue his administration,” said Juan Pappier, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division.

“If they see that opportunity challenged in any way, for example through (opposition-led) demonstrations, they will repress them brutally.”

A climate of fear

Medina remembers his last months in Venezuela as being drenched in fear.

In the run-up to the controversial election, he had joined opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s campaign as a photographer documenting her efforts to build support for presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.

But that work made him a target once again.

Medina was no stranger to the Maduro government: in 2018, he was arrested on charges of money laundering, criminal conspiracy and incitement to hatred, all of which he denies.

Instead, he maintains that his arrest was in retaliation for his reporting on human rights abuses. He was held without trial in Ramo Verde military prison until January 2020.

“The Venezuelan regime does not tolerate any comments or information against them,” he said.

“The media is scared,” Medina added. “Freedom of expression in Venezuela has been completely lost because journalists in Venezuela are doing whatever they can to avoid imprisonment.”

But the presidential election on July 28, 2024 brought political repression worse than any medina had witnessed before.

Hours after the polls closed, the National Electoral Council named Maduro the winner without giving its usual breakdown of vote tallies.

Meanwhile, the opposition published receipts for the votes, suggesting instead that Gonzalez had won the election with nearly 70 percent of the vote. As protests erupted over the alleged election fraud, a government response followed.

As state forces swept the streets for protesters and seized dissidents from their homes, Medina said he was tipped off that he would be jailed — again.

He quickly went into hiding. Medina spent two months locked up in various locations in the capital, Caracas, in an attempt to avoid arrest. He said the country’s intelligence forces had already knocked on the door of his home in the city.

Feeling cornered, Medina decided on September 15 to flee to Bogota, where he has remained ever since.

A wave of repression

As many as 2,500 people were ultimately detained in the post-election protests, according to government statistics.

Another 25 people were killed, in which independent investigators for the UN called “unprecedented levels of violence”.

A UN fact-finding mission announced earlier this month that at least 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists and a human rights defender were among those arrested between August and December.

On Tuesday, also the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a report on systematic state repression aimed at “preventing the political participation of the opposition” and “sowing terror among citizens”.

But in the run-up to Friday’s inauguration, more than 1,500 prisoners detained in the post-election period have been released in what critics say could be an attempt to reduce scrutiny of the government’s human rights record.

Alfredo Romero, the director of Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights watchdog, explained that “having a number of innocent youths with their relatives, especially their mothers, at the door of the prisons” standing guard reflected badly on the Maduro administration.

Rights groups have also questioned the accuracy of the government’s figures.

Romero said at least 1,749 prisoners remained in custody in the first week of January, and more alleged dissidents had since been detained.

“People may be released from prison, but that doesn’t mean new ones won’t be incarcerated,” he said.

Consecration reaction

Despite widespread fears of repression, demonstrations are expected on the day of Maduro’s third inauguration.

Gonzalez, the opposition presidential candidate, has also promised to return to Venezuela from his exile abroad and be sworn in on Friday. It is unclear how or if he will follow through on the promise.

In a video message posted to social media on Sunday, Machado, who has been hiding in Venezuela for months, called on Venezuelans to march in support of a transition of power this week.

“Maduro will not go alone, we must make him go with the strength of a population that never gives up,” Machado said. “It is time to stand firm and make them understand that this is as far as they will go. That this is over.”

In return, the Maduro government has increased security and deployed more than 1,200 military personnel to cities across the country to “guarantee peace” on inauguration day.

The government has also detained more than 12 human rights defenders, political activists and relatives of opposition figures in recent days, according to Amnesty International, a human rights organization.

The arrests reportedly include Gonzalez’s son-in-law, Rafael Tudares: the presidential candidate said Tudares was abducted by masked men in Caracas on Tuesday.

And on Thursday, Machado herself was detained as she left an anti-Maduro protest, according to opposition officials, who said her transport was fired upon. She was quickly released.

An uncertain future

The latest arrests have prompted a new wave of international condemnation.

The US Embassy in Venezuela has called the detention of Gonzalez’s son-in-law an act of “intimidation” against the opposition. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that the arrests prevented him from attending Maduro’s inauguration on Friday.

Yet Maduro’s control of state institutions has allowed security forces to act with impunity, according to recent report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Medina himself believes that the repression in Venezuela could escalate if Maduro remains in power for a third term.

“If we don’t achieve freedom, there will be a lot more persecution,” Medina said. “They will try to put an end to everything they consider the opposition, including political leaders and the media.”

For now, he added, he hopes to continue his work exposing human rights abuses from abroad.

“What I have decided is that no matter what, I will fight for my country.”