Julio Borges calls for condemnation of “authoritarian attack” on Cuba and Venezuela

The Venezuelan opponent Jules Borges, a close collaborator of Juan Guaidó, asked the international community on Thursday speak out in the face of what he saw as an “authoritarian attack” against Cuba and his country and insisted that the fight must be for a continent “without dictatorships”.

“The international community must raise its voice in the face of this authoritarian attack on Cuba and Venezuela. The fight is for a continent without dictatorships and where respect for human rights prevailsBorges said.

Borges made this request after noting that in Cuba, there are “more than 5,000 detainees and dozens injured in three days of historic protests”, while in Venezuela “they illegally detain political leaders, persecute their relatives and criminalize human rights activists”.

According to him, the dictator of Cuba, Miguel Diaz Canel, and its Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas maduro, “have joined forces to try to extinguish the democratic struggle in the two countries”.

The protests in Cuba began with shouts of “freedom” in the streets, after which the Díaz-Canel regime shut down the Internet, tightened police control and accused the United States of funding the social epidemic, which made a dead, according to official sources, and hundreds of detainees.

The strongest protests that have taken place in Cuba since the so-called “maleconazo” of August 1994, come as the country is plunged into a serious economic and health crisis, with the pandemic out of control and a severe shortage of food, medicine and other essentials, in addition to long power outages.

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, Last Monday, another ally of Guaidó was arrested, the opposition Freddy Guevara, accused of having links with suspected paramilitary groups.

Chavismo also accused several opposition leaders close to Guaidó of having links to the armed gangs that led to a shootout last week in areas west of Caracas.

(With information from EFE)

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