Venezuelans call for release of relatives arrested in election protests

By Mircely Guanipa

CARACAS (Reuters) – Relatives of people arrested during protests in Venezuela over the country’s contested presidential election are being called for their release outside police headquarters as political tensions in the South American country remain high.

The electoral authority has declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of Sunday’s election, despite opposition insistence that voting tallies in his possession show his candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won a huge majority.

Protests exploded in cities across the country on Monday and Tuesday and were marked by some clashes between protesters and security forces and protesters and motorcycle groups allied with the ruling Socialist Party.

At least 1,200 people have been arrested, according to Maduro, and the authorities are seeking more.

Detainees’ families, many worried and fearful, stood outside police headquarters in eastern Caracas on Thursday, pleading for their relatives’ release, while lawyers providing them with legal assistance said they have not been allowed into the detention centers or to attend court hearings.

The communications ministry, which channels all official press requests in Venezuela, did not respond to a request for comment.

Maduro has said protesters belong to the “extremist” opposition, blasting them as “paid criminals” and insisting the demonstrations are driven by fascists.

Marilu Landaeta, 45, was waiting for news of her two sons, aged 25 and 26, who were arrested on Tuesday after an opposition rally.

“My two children were with a cousin and the security forces took them,” she said.

Her sons are expected to appear before a court on Thursday, said Landaeta, to a housewife, adding the young men’s fate was uncertain.

“We don’t know what they are going to do, where they are going to send them,” she said.

“They should release all of them,” Landaeta added. “Each young person was doing their duty. If we’re supposedly a democracy, no one should be in prison, not my children or any of these people.”

At least 20 people have been killed in the post-election protests, according to US-based NGO Human Rights Watch.

Two out-of-commission prisons – Tocoron in Aragua state and Tocuyito in Carabobo – are being revamped to hold the demonstrators, Maduro has said.

The international community and electoral observers have called on the electoral authority to publish the full election results at ballot box level.

Cecilia Paez, 73, was outside the police station hoping for the release of her 19-year-old grandson.

“I don’t know when they’ll let him out, or where, or in what condition I’ll see my grandson,” she said. “I don’t know if he is healthy, if he has eaten, or what condition he is in.”

Venezuelan security forces are out in strength in cities across the country, Reuters said witnesses.

(Reporting by Mircely Guanipa; Writing by Mayela Armas, Vivian Sequera and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Daniel Wallis)