VALENCIA: Victor Bustos’ children mourn and cling to his coffin in the living room of his modest home, trying to make sense of his death during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro’s disputed re-election.
“They took his life unfairly, he wasn’t a bad person, he wasn’t a criminal,” said the victim’s cousin Jennifer Ibarra, who was crying.
He said the security forces “fired and they didn’t fire bullets, they fired real bullets. And now my cousin is dead.”
The opposition cried foul and claimed that its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, was the rightful winner. The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have demanded the release of detailed voting data.
Victor, a former plastics worker and father of a 16-year-old girl and two boys aged 10 and one, was shot in the chest on Tuesday, according to witness statements.
“If you’re at a peaceful protest, they shouldn’t use force or shoot at citizens. They can’t kill the country, the population, the people who are just going to defend their voice, to fight for a better Venezuela,” Bueno said.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has been banned from running and supports Gonzalez Urrutia, condemned the “cruel and repressive escalation by the regime” in a message posted on the X social network.
In an opinion piece published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, she accused state security forces of killing at least 20 Venezuelans.
“Most of our team is in hiding… I could be captured as I write these words.
That death toll is compounded by the jailing of hundreds of protesting prisoners, who both prosecutors and Maduro’s government call “criminals” and “terrorists” allegedly hired by the opposition to destabilize Venezuela.
Dozens of relatives have gathered outside the barracks in Valencia, anxiously waiting for news about their loved ones.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, 46 people were arrested in Valencia alone.
Niurka Mendoza (38) has not heard from her son Angelo (19) because he was arrested during Monday’s demonstration.
“They told me they arrested him because he was at the protests and they are accusing him of terrorism. It’s not true, he’s not a terrorist,” says Mendoza. She said her son was arrested along with two minors.
Prosecutor General Tarek William Saab said on Wednesday that 1,062 people were being detained.
The charges he faces include “incitement to hatred” and “terrorism,” crimes that carry a maximum penalty in Venezuela: 30 years in prison.
“There will be no mercy, there will be justice,” said Saab, loyal to the government.
Luis Armando Betancourt, coordinator of the NGO Foro Penal in Carabobo, said the detainees were not allowed access to their families or lawyers.
“A very popular phrase uttered by our liberator Simon Bolivar was: ‘Cursed be the soldier who takes up arms against the people,'” said Adonis Alvarado, another relative of Victor Bustos, referring to the Venezuelan military officer who led several countries to independence from Spain.
“And that’s what happened. They took up arms against the people and my cousin was killed on the spot.”
