Nicolas Maduro, in the custody of US forces after being captured in Caracas. Photo: Truth Social / Donald Trump
Two peasants were arrested for celebrating the capture of Nicolas Maduro by the United States during the attack on January 3, writes AFP, citing a Venezuelan NGO.
The two men were arrested on Monday under the law that established the state of emergency after the US attack, which provides prison terms for any form of celebration of the US operation.
“We are waiting to see if they will be brought before the court. They are very modest farmers,” said lawyer Gonzalo Himiob of the NGO Foro Penal, a defender of the political prisoners.
The two brothers, respectively 65 and 64 years old, are farmers from the town of Rio Negro, in the state of Merida. “They were drunk and left the house to celebrate,” the lawyer said.
“They fired a few shots into the air with weapons commonly found in rural farms and properties, joking with neighbors who are partisans of power and who reported them to the authorities,” Himiob said.
These are the first arrests made by the government of Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president who succeeded Maduro. No demonstration or public expression of the US military incursion has been recorded in the country.
Fear reigns in Venezuela after spontaneous protests against Maduro's contested re-election in 2024 resulted in the arrest of 2,400 people and 28 deaths, at the end of weeks and months of systematic persecution of opponents.
Foro Penal estimates the number of political prisoners in Venezuela at 806, of which 175 are military.
