By The Diary
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has denounced the alleged kidnapping of lawyer Perkins Rocha, legal advisor to the main anti-Chavez coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which she accused of being carried out by the “Nicolás Maduro regime.” His wife claims that there was no arrest warrant and that he was taken away by unidentified persons.
On social media, the former MP said that her “friend and comrade in arms” had been “kidnapped,” referring to the lawyer, whom she described as “a just, brave, intelligent and generous man,” Deutsche Welle reported.
“They want to subdue us, distract us and terrify us. We continue forward, for Perkins, for all the prisoners and persecuted, and for all of Venezuela. We will be free,” he said.
The Nicolás Maduro regime has kidnapped my friend and comrade, Perkins Rocha (@PerkinsRocha).
Perkins is our personal lawyer, our Legal Coordinator and representative of @ConVzlaComando before the CNE.
A fair, brave, intelligent and generous man. A… pic.twitter.com/V1DTpUEodt— Maria Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) August 27, 2024
Unidentified individuals took the lawyer away
The Vente Venezuela Human Rights Committee (VV) – a party led by Machado – said that “unidentified individuals forcibly took” Rocha, who was also a witness for the opposition bloc before the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the presidential elections on July 28, Deutsche Welle added.
The party also demanded, in X, information about his whereabouts, as well as his “immediate release.”
Rocha’s wife, Constanza Cipriani, reported the incident through her social network X. “My husband has been missing since 11 in the morning. My husband is not a criminal, he is just a citizen who yearns and fights for us all to live in freedom,” she wrote.
Recently, the lawyer stated that Nicolás Maduro “refuses to accept what all of Venezuela knows,” in reference to the victory that the PUD claims its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained in the presidential elections, according to “83.5% of the minutes” that he says he collected through witnesses and table members, documents that the Government describes as “false,” shared Deutsche Welle.
Criminal regime
On Saturday, Machado called on the international community to hold Maduro and his “criminal regime” responsible for “the repression unleashed” in the country, especially after the elections.
According to official figures, more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29 – some in demonstrations and others in police operations – while 25 people died in acts of violence that the government attributes to the opposition, while anti-Chavez supporters blame the state security forces, on orders from their superiors.
There was no arrest warrant
During an interview for the evening news programme NTN24, Mrs. Constanza Cipriani said that there was no arrest warrant for her husband. “I know absolutely nothing, the last contact I had with him was at 11 in the morning and then they alerted me that he had been arrested.”
“This is a kidnapping, my husband is not a criminal, there is no arrest warrant. I am heading to Caracas to find out what is happening to my husband,” she added. “We cannot allow fear to silence us,” she said.
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