(Caracas) Five collaborators of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, opposition candidate in the July 28 presidential election in Venezuela, were released Saturday after being briefly arrested, announced opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.
“They were released,” the secretary general of the Causa R party, which supports Gonzalez and had denounced the arrests, told AFP. “They first released two of them and then the other three.”
The group, which was participating in the state of Miranda (central-north) in a campaign event of the opponent, had been taken to the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB), where it remained from morning to late afternoon.
Among the collaborators briefly detained were the secretary general of Causa R in Miranda Rafael Marin, the coordinator of Women Marilin Rondon and the owner of a truck that provided logistical support, Jorge Alvis.
The party did not identify the two other people arrested.
Although the official campaign for the presidential election only began on Thursday, incumbent President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was declared ineligible by the government, have been holding rallies for months.
The electoral battle has so far been marked by arrests and exclusions from the presidential race of opponents whom the government accuses of conspiring to overthrow the state.
According to a report by the NGO Acceso a la Justicia published on June 28, 46 people linked to the opposition were arrested in the first six months of 2024, including merchants who offered their services to Mme Machado.
Venezuelan authorities have also issued arrest warrants for six close associates of M.me Machado, who are taking refuge in the Argentine embassy.