Hundreds of Venezuelans marched on the Brazilian embassy in Caracas on Wednesday, pleading with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to assist in the release of approximately 2,500 “political prisoners.”
“Freedom, freedom!” chanted the group in a rare protest since a crackdown that claimed 27 lives following July 28 presidential elections the opposition says it can prove incumbent strongman Nicolas Maduro had stolen.
“Lula, intercede for Venezuela,” read one poster. Another urged: “Free all the political prisoners.”
Of the 2,500 people the protesters claim are held in Venezuelan prisons for defying the regime, some 2,400 were arrested at spontaneous demonstrations in the days after election authorities declared Maduro the victor.
They include minors, according to rights groups.
The opposition claims that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who has subsequently been granted asylum in Spain after being threatened with arrest in Venezuela, won the election legitimately, and much of the international community has refused to accept Maduro’s claim to a third six-year term.
Brazil and other countries have called for a complete breakdown of the voting results.
‘Slow-motion assassination’
Wednesday’s protesters delivered to the embassy a letter addressed to Lula, who with Colombia’s Gustavo Petro has been heading efforts to find a peaceful exit from the post-election crisis.
“We are telling him of the conditions in which our relatives are being held, all their human rights violated,” said Diego Casanova, who had a family member detained in the election aftermath.
“They are all prisoners of conscience, none have committed a crime.”
Organizer Andreina Baduel added: “Political prisoners are being subjected to a slow-motion assassination in Venezuela just for thinking differently.”
Her father, Raul Baduel, was formerly a supporter of Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, but he was imprisoned after defying the administration and died in 2021.
Lula, Maduro’s longtime leftist friend, appeared to be losing patience last month, calling his rule “very unpleasant” and with a “authoritarian bias.”
Last week, the two countries clashed after Venezuela denied Brazil permission to represent Argentina’s diplomatic interests in the country.
Brazil reaffirmed that it will continue to monitor the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where six Venezuelan opposition officials have been hiding for months.
Argentina was one of seven Latin American countries whose diplomats were asked to leave Caracas as Venezuela severed ties with governments critical of the election.