The Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) of Venezuela announced the release of a teenager detained after the presidential elections of July 28within the framework of the protests that left more than 2,400 people arrested in the country. These demonstrations arose in rejection of the electoral fraud.
In a statement published on Instagram, the MP reported that, in coordination with the National Service of Medicine and Forensic Sciences, The young woman underwent a medical evaluationwithout offering further details. Subsequently, it was requested review of your custodial measure.
“This request has now been granted by the corresponding court, said young woman finding herself free”he added.
After hearing the news, the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners He declared in his account on X that the young woman is 16 years old and that she had been unjustly imprisoned.
“Thanks to the firm demand of her mother, friends, organizations and all Venezuelans who condemned the cruelty against the teenager Mariana Gonzaleztoday she was released. She should never have been unjustly detained. He is not a terrorist, he is innocent. like her, All children and adolescents must be released immediately who remain unjustly imprisoned,” stated the NGO.
According to organization data Criminal ForumAmong those detained during the demonstrations are more than a hundred minors between 14 and 17 years old. According to this source and relatives of those arrested, 48 of them still remain incarcerated.
Last September, the UN Fact-Finding Mission to Venezuela reported that at least 158 children, some with disabilities, were arrested during the first days of the protests. The mission noted that several of them face accusations of serious crimes, such as terrorism e hate speech.
Hours before the expected release took place, the opposition leader Maria Corina Machado had given this case as an example when responding to the Portuguese ambassador in Venezuela, João Pedro de Vasconcelos Fins do Lago. The diplomat had asked the Portuguese community in the country to remain “equidistant” in the face of the actions of the regime Nicolas Maduro and topics that “divide the country”.
“What does it mean to be ‘equidistant’, Mr. Ambassador? Ignore that Maduro lost the election by more than 40% of the votes and they refused to publish the results? Ignore that 2,000 Venezuelans were arrested, including 198 children and adolescents? Ignore that detainees have been tortured, sexually abused and murdered? Ignore that at this moment there is asylum seekers in the Argentine Embassyunder the protection of Brazil, who are harassed and left without light, water and food? Ignore that there are children and young people imprisoned and TORTURED Why did they protest peacefully or were they simply walking down the street?” asked Machado through his account on the social network X.
And he continued: “You recommend your compatriots to be ‘equidistant‘between justice and corruption; between good and evil; between victims and perpetrators. There is no such thing as equidistance today in Venezuela. There is no neutrality possiblenor appeal to ignorance about what is happening.”
“Venezuelan society is not divided on these issuesMr. Ambassador. As was demonstrated on July 28, there is a united people that longs to live with dignity, justice and freedom, and that bravely faces a criminal tyranny in a terminal phase,” the opposition leader stressed; while he noted: “Whoever decides to remain silent in the face of this reality has decided to choose the side of the oppressor. Venezuelans and history will judge mercilessly”.
In the same text, Machado cited a message in X from the account Human Rights Vente Venezuelahis party. In said post, reference was made to crude testimony of Mariana González, the minor political prisoner who was released yesterday.
“Mr. Ambassador, listen here to the testimony of Mariana, a 16 year old girl arrested the day after the election and who wrote to her mother: ‘I prefer to kill myself rather than continue suffering‘. Explain to your mother that ‘your duty’ is to be ‘equidistant’ between those who torture your daughter and Mariana,” he said.
“If I can’t be with you, I don’t want to be with anyone else. I prefer to die (…) Sometimes I want to hurt myself. I can’t take it anymore“, the young woman had written in a letter sent to her loved ones from the prison where she was.
Human Rights Vente Venezuela He told more about her: “This is the feeling of Mariana Gonzálezexpressed to his mother in a letter, after four months of arbitrary detention. The 16-year-old girl was arrested on July 29 during the post-election context”.
And he concluded: “This is the reality faced by more than 1,900 people who have been detained by the regimeand that today they suffer irreparable damage. We demand his immediate release and justice for all those responsible for these atrocities.”
