Venezuela has been roiled with civil unrest and violence in the streets after its July 28 presidential elections, which most world leaders see as a complete scam.
The country’s ruling socialist president Nicolas Maduro, the handpicked successor to longtime president Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, has claimed victory. But analysis from independent observers indicates this is almost certainly untrue, as opposition challenger Edmundo Gonzalez looks to have won in a landslide.
This weekend, the country’s center right Vente Venezuela party released evidence that Maduro’s socialist regime is cracking down on dissent by arresting more than 100 children and minors. The party says the government detained more than 120 minors as part of its crackdown against protesters.
The scene in the nation is chaotic, with citizens setting fire to cars and spray painting buildings in protest against the illegitimate elections. No one trusts the results from the National Electoral Center (CNE), which makes no bones about its loyalty to Maduro, and seems to be controlled by his government. The CNE maintains that Maduro was elected for a third time, but it will not publish voter data or any other records that would allow neutral parties to verify the results.
The Maduro government responded immediately and harshly to protesters using the national guard, the national police, and other law enforcement agencies. Various reports indicate that more than 2,400 people were arbitrarily detained and that 25 of them have died.
Now, a nonprofit called Foro Penal says it has confirmed that 129 of those arrests were of teenagers from 14 to 17 years old. The leader of opposition party Vente Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado, agrees, and has posted on social media featuring information about the teen arrests. One case she foregrounded was that of Jose David Crespo, 14, who was arrested along with his father Israel in the city of Carora on July 30.
The boy’s mother Marbelin Camacaro posted a video on social media saying her son had been arrested and left in a National Guard facility before being moved to a juvenile jail in another city.
The party also says a 16-year-old girl named Lau has been charged with “inciting hatred” after she was arrested August 14. It is reported that she has suffered a nervous breakdown and is in hospital recovering from brain damage, though how that occurred is not clear.
