By Deutsche Welle
María Oropeza, a collaborator of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, recorded in a live broadcast how she was detained by security forces in Venezuela, hours after criticizing an official campaign that calls for reporting cases of “hate” amid protests against the questioned re-election of Nicolás Maduro.
María Oropeza, coordinator of Machado’s campaign command in the state of Portuguesa (center), spread the word through her account on Instagram the moment when personnel from the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM) knock and force the door to enter his house.
Ask for help through Instagram
“They are entering my home arbitrarily, there is no search warrant,” Oropeza said on his account.
“They are destroying the door, I really ask for help, I ask for help from everyone who can. I am not a criminal, I am just another citizen who wants a different country,” Oropeza said before the broadcast went black.
The collaborator had criticized the call hours before Operation Tun Tun of the DGCIM, which set up a telephone line to report cases of physical or virtual “hatred” amid the measures that have been taken in response to the protests unleashed after the presidential elections, which the opposition denounces as fraudulent.
.🚨 #Urgent | DGCIM officials arrested María Oropeza, head of the ConVzla campaign command in Portuguesa.
They entered by force and without a court order.
We alert the international community of this situation. The regime is responsible for his physical integrity. pic.twitter.com/lIi0pwSlyg
— Human Rights Vente Venezuela (@VenteDDHH) August 7, 2024
“Operation Tun Tun”
As part of the campaign, the DGCIM is asking for information about the person who reported the incident, including the date, location, “physical or digital evidence that demonstrates the attack or threat” and their phone number or social profile, according to a publication by the director of the Scientific Police, Douglas Rico.
“That bitch Operation Tun Tun “It lacks any legal argument, meaning that what we are really facing is a witch hunt,” Oropeza had said in a previous video posted on his social media.
Following the vote, the electoral authority declared Maduro re-elected for a third six-year term with 52% of the votes compared to 43% for opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, Machado’s representative after he was disqualified from running.
Both leaders denounced electoral fraud and claim to have in their possession the records that prove the opposition victory.
The protests have left more than 2,200 people detained, according to Maduro, and some 24 dead, according to human rights NGOs.
More than a hundred opposition activists have been arrested during the electoral period in Venezuela and Machado herself has announced that she is in hiding for fear of her life. González Urrutia has not appeared publicly for a week.
The Attorney General’s Office announced a criminal investigation against the leaders and six trusted collaborators of the opposition remain sheltered in the Argentine Embassy. Machado condemned Oropeza’s arrest on social media and demanded his release.
Keep reading:
- The number of people arrested for protests in Venezuela is growing: there are 2,229 opponents behind bars
- Venezuela: US supports mediation by Mexico, Brazil and Colombia for a “transition”
- This is how María Corina Machado remembers the day when Chávez told her “an eagle doesn’t hunt flies”