On March 25th, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, headed by Michelle Bachelet, calling for the release of all political prisoners on the planet, especially those who are older and suffer from illnesses.
The response of the Nicolas Maduro regime, according to the NGO Penal Forum has been the opposite, as security officers executed 39 arbitrary arrests for political purposes during March.
The NGO reported the 39 new political cases in March, a considerable increase from February when nine citizens were arrested for the same reasons.
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According to the last report by the Penal Forum sent to the Organization of American State on April 6, the regime has 334 political prisoners.
However, in the Report on Repression in Venezuela, published by the United Nations this April 13, one of the largest peaks of politically motivated detentions was recorded in March, the month in which the first two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the country, and started the national alarm decree signed by Maduro.
March 10th was the day when more arrests made, as ten people were reportedly detained due to calls for street demonstrations by the Venezuelan opposition. Meanwhile, on 17th March, five people were arrested, and on 30 March officials arbitrarily arrested five more.
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The data from Penal Forum pointed out that the Capital District is the zone with more arrests with a total of 19; other states were Merida, Miranda, Monagas, Tachira, Bolivar, Zulia, Nueva Esparta, Lara and Portuguesa.
While Bachelet statement that “keeping prisoners during the COVID-19 crisis is a high risk,” the Venezuelan government, as explained in the report by, has used the alarm decree to make several arrests, both of people around Juan Guaido, as well as people who sent WhatsApp messages or social networks denouncing the government for the deepening health crisis as a result of the COVID pandemic-19.
