Since the disputed victory of the Venezuelan president at the end of July, the opposition has denounced arbitrary arrests and continued to demonstrate.
Published on 08/01/2025 06:56
Reading time: 2min
Of the “hooded men” “kidnapped” Tuesday January 7 in Caracas (Venezuela) the son-in-law of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who claims victory in the July 28 presidential election, the opponent announced the same day from Washington, during a tour intended to collect support before the inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro. “My son-in-law Rafael Tudares was kidnapped this morning (…) hooded men dressed in black put him in a gold-colored van (…) and took him away. He is now being carried disappeared”wrote the president's main opponent on the social network X.
“Since when was it a crime to be related to Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia?”said Mariana Gonzalez, the daughter of the opponent. Meanwhile, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado denounced harassment of her mother: “Regime agents surrounded my mother’s house”she posted on The opposition regularly uses the word “kidnapping” for arrests, saying security forces are not respecting the law. It was not possible to obtain an official reaction.
Highly contested even in the streets, President Maduro “activated” Tuesday evening, two days before his swearing in, a national military-police plan while the authorities have already carried out a massive deployment of security forces in the capital, Caracas. In view of the presidential inauguration scheduled for Friday, The opposition called for nationwide protests on Thursday in support of “president-elect” Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and attempt to derail the swearing-in process.
