There are 35 dead and 850 arrests during protests in Venezuela – ElSol.com.ar – Diario de Mendoza, Argentina

Anti-government protests in Venezuela last week left a record of 35 dead and 850 inmates, according to a report released Monday by several non-governmental organizations.

"We have the corroborated figure, with name, first name, place and alleged perpetrator of 35 people killed in protests across the country," said the director of the Venezuelan Program of Education and Action to human rights (Provea) at a press conference. ), Rafael Uzcátegui.

This balance is evoked with the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict (OVCS) and states that Caracas is the country with the highest number of deaths, ten, followed by the state of Bolívar (south, bordering Brazil ) with eight, and Portuguesa (center). ) at four.

"These are people in their entirety in poor neighborhoods, which reflects the fury with which the least badisted communities of our country are repressed and all those who died from a firearm" said Uzcátegui. .

Provea points out that members of the so-called Special Action Forces (FAES), a state security organ that operates in poor areas, denounce, in a "logic of war and logic of" war. extermination ", the" main culprits "of these deaths. .

"Family members are forced to accept the falsification of the cause of death and the responsible body", denounced

For its part, the NGO Penal Forum, which leads the defense of people considered as political prisoners in the country, stressed that most of the arrests took place in poor areas, where most of the demonstrations were recorded since Monday. latest.

"Since January 21, there have been 850 arrests of people who have come forward," Forum Director Alfredo Romero said.

The lawyer explained that it was only on January 23, when hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans demonstrated throughout the country against the government of Nicolás Maduro, that there were 696 arrests.

The total number of detainees consists of 77 minors, some of whom are 12 years old.

Romero denounced the fact that these arrests correspond to an "instruction given by Nicolás Maduro" referring to the placement by the head of state to inflict the maximum penalty to those arrested during violent demonstrations.

The protests are held in the context of the Parliament's ignorance of Maduro's new six-year term sworn in this month, following the victory of the Chavez leader in elections deemed fraudulent and to which the major part of the opposition has not manifested.