Below is a rough translation of the latest statement released by the Popular Democratic Front, which was set up by various left parties, organisations, human rights groups and trade unionists that lays out their views on the issue of the CNE's lack of transparency and failure to abide by its obligations, as well as the repression being metered out.
*REPRESSION AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN VENEZUELA* *Second Declaration of the Popular Democratic Front* We would like to begin this statement by recalling two articles of our Constitution, which are very important for the defence of our rights and guarantees within the framework of a Constitutional State as provided for in our Magna Carta: For this purpose, we will read *Article 5* , which contains the democratic political principle *:* "Sovereignty resides non-transferably in the people, who exercise it directly in the manner provided for in this Constitution and the law, and indirectly through suffrage. The organs of the State emanate from and are subject to the sovereignty of the people. *Article 19* is the cross-cutting guarantee that the organs of the Public Power must observe in each of their actions when it provides: "The State shall guarantee to every person ... the unrenounceable, indivisible and interdependent enjoyment and exercise of human rights. Their respect and guarantee are obligatory for the organs of the Public Power....". Since we are receiving reports through various media regarding excessive actions and without due process, presumption of innocence, transparency, and unrestricted respect for the human rights of Venezuelans, the Popular Democratic Front (FDP), a space that brings together activists from social and political organisations, with different mandates, approaches and ideologies, with the aim of contributing to transforming the serious crisis that our country is going through, makes the following statement on the repressive policy unleashed after July 28th, in the following terms: *1. Doubts about the official result of the elections* , announced by the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, on 29.07.24, continue to grow since our last pronouncement. The CNE continues to fail to comply with its constitutional obligation to carry out the audits provided for in the electoral chronogram in the terms stipulated in the LOPRE, keeps its offices closed, does not make public statements on the alleged computer attacks (instead, the Executive makes them), and still does not publish the results broken down table by table (as it has done for almost two decades), nor does it provide this information to the organisations participating in the process. In other words, the electoral process has not been completed. However, the CNE is absent from its constitutional obligations and is keeping the 12.5 million voters who participated and all Venezuelans in suspense. For its part, the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice does nothing more than contribute to the opacity of the process, assuming the CNE's own functions, without giving the presidential candidates and their organisations access to information. The peace of the Republic continues to be threatened by these institutions that carry out a continuous violation of the political rights of the Venezuelan people. *2.* The enormous popular mobilisation for the defence of political rights continues to be responded to with a *systematic policy of human rights violations* , combining *selective repression* , based on arbitrary arrests of opposition political leaders, journalists, members of social organisations and priests, with *massive repression* , fundamentally against inhabitants of the popular sectors who mobilised against the official announcement of results. Some patterns of repression against the popular sectors are: *2.1. The right to personal liberty.* President Maduro reported that 2,229 demonstrators, whom he publicly accuses of being "terrorists" who were under the influence of the drug known as "captagon", are deprived of their liberty. Of these, at least 126 are adolescents and 17 are persons with disabilities, according to human rights organisations. There are numerous public reports of arbitrary detentions by police or military, without warrants or in flagrante delicto: people who were demonstrating peacefully and were detained, and even people who were not even demonstrating, but were close to the places of conflict or who were subsequently detained in their homes, with searches without warrants, as a result of previous complaints through Ven App. There are also numerous reports of detainees being held incommunicado, as well as being subjected to undignified conditions of detention in police centres or being transferred to prisons far from their families. *2.2. The right to defence and due process.* Detainees are prevented from appointing private lawyers and are forced to appoint public defenders who do not guarantee an adequate technical defence. The presentation hearings have been carried out collectively, without a clear individualisation of the charges. The criminal offences most frequently used by the Public Prosecutor's Office to bring charges, with little or no evidence, are: terrorism, incitement to hatred, resistance to authority and obstruction of public roads; the first two offences carry sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years' imprisonment. The weak support of the Public Prosecutor's Office is compounded by the complicity of the supervisory judges who agree to initiate criminal proceedings, despite the lack of evidence. The severe penalties in the indictment prevent the trial from being conducted in freedom, generate terror in the accused and facilitate the extortion of the accused so that they accept acts they did not commit (in recorded statements) in exchange for better treatment. These are patterns of the penal apparatus, which have been consolidated over the last five years. *2.3. Labour rights.* After the popular mobilisations, a particular persecution of civil servants began. After the review of social networks, hundreds of workers have been dismissed. There are reports of mass dismissals in VTV, SENIAT, Pdvsa and Conviasa. Most of these workers have not filed complaints due to possible retaliation and withholding of their social benefits or possible criminal charges. *3.* Although the vast majority of the demonstrations were peaceful, there were indeed some violent demonstrations, in the context of which *PSUV militants* were *attacked*. These included a serious lynching attempt in Carora, the murder of two women in Aragua and in Bolivar, threats by telephone to local leaders or marks on their houses. The FDP *condemns these expressions of political hatred* and demands that they be properly investigated and punished, and that the lives and integrity of PSUV grassroots militants be protected. *4.* In response to the alleged facts, the FDP makes the following demands: *4.1.* That the CNE complies with its legal obligation to immediately publish the results table by table, either on its website, on an alternative website or by delivering the data directly to the participating political organisations and other actors; as well as to facilitate an audit process on the tally sheets, machines and boxes containing ballots for the one-to-one count. Only respect for popular sovereignty will make it possible to recover a democratic and peaceful administration of the Venezuelan political conflict. *4.2.* That the national executive and its security forces refrain from continuing to carry out arbitrary arrests, illegal searches and planting evidence on demonstrators, dissidents, opponents or critics of the government; that it refrain, also, from continuing to use para-police organisations to intimidate and repress the popular sectors. *4.3.* That the Public Prosecutor's Office refrain from continuing to bring charges with no or weak evidence of conviction, based on political motivations, for very serious criminal offences, and that the supervisory judges refrain from initiating criminal proceedings whose main motivation is to criminalise the defence of political rights. *4.4.* That the Ombudsman's Office accompany those who are being unjustly prosecuted, investigate the situation of their conditions of detention, investigate the patterns of institutional violence that are being denounced and act to prevent them and promote their sanction. *4.5.* That a process of political negotiation be carried out that will allow the result announced by the CNE to be audited as soon as possible and protect the expression of the majorities, political guarantees for all the actors in the conflict, and the release of those detained and charged for exercising their right to demonstrate. *4.6* That the charges and sentences applied be investigated in depth on a case by case basis to distinguish who has actually committed a crime and who has simply been wrongly accused. The state must guarantee due process and the presumption of innocence for all Venezuelans. *5.* Finally, the FDP stresses that, in this context, the only guarantee for the respect of our political rights is popular mobilisation, the expression of our opinions and analyses, the broadening of public debate, the demand for our rights before the institutions and the demand for justice in the face of human rights violations. For this reason, we invite citizens to stay informed and mobilised. *We demand respect for the Constitution, popular sovereignty and human rights!* -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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