“Red Justicia y Libertad” (Justice and Freedom Network), an initiative of the Human Rights Foundation of Los Llanos (Fundehullan), spoke out in relation to the judicial process that is being carried out against the leader of “Bandera Roja” in Guárico State, Reynaldo Cortés, who was detained for arbitrarily in his home on July 7th.
Correspondent lapatilla.com
Furthermore, Neulys Álvarez, representative of the political organization, specified that the activist is currently being held at the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) located in La Yaguara, Caracas, and is being accused of conspiracy and association to commit crimes by Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Likewise, he pointed out that the situation for the delivery of food and clothing to Cortés is impossible for his mother who is 78 years old, and who does not have the economic resources to travel continuously to the capital of the country to visit her son.
“Links have been made with some acquaintances to bring him clothes and food. Possibly his place of detention will be “El Rodeo II”, which is totally arbitrary because we are not talking about a common criminal. In fact, we are not talking about a criminal, we are talking about a social fighter, who, to the knowledge of his mother, has been fighting for the rights of citizens since he was 14 years old,” remarked Mr. Álvarez.
For her part, the mother of the apprehended, Iris Gutiérrez, affirmed that her eldest son is innocent of the charges brought against him, while she hopes that his human rights will be respected within the detention center where he is during his internment.
“Our thanks to (NGO) “Foro Penal” and to all that enormous number of women and men of good will, who without asking for anything in return, have offered their hand in solidarity and have been demanding the full freedom of the leaders detained in recent days in various states of the country,” Mrs. Gutiérrez stated.
“Operation Thunder” maintains arbitrary arrests
On the other hand, the NGO “Fundehullan” official reported that in the town of Altagracia de Orituco of in Guárico, human rights violations and irregular procedures by security officials who are part of the so-called “Operation Thunder” (Operación Trueno), which was initially deployed to dismantle the criminal mega-gang “Tren del Llano”, information that they have managed to document with witnesses and relatives of those affected by arbitrary detentions.
“Irregular procedures have been proven with evidence, among which we find: raids without warrants; harassment and intimidation of civil society; theft, robbery and looting of property from citizens. These have been denounced through various platforms. All “police actions” are based on an alleged relationship with criminal groups or joints that make life in the José Tadeo Monagas municipality. The actions have not been carried out in the most transparent way, much less the fairest for the inhabitants of the area, who are even subject to a daily curfew,” denounced Mr. Álvarez.
These statements were offered during the presentation of the Quarterly Report of the NGO “Red Justicia y Libertad” in this plains region.