Bogota, Colombia – Jesus Medina Ezaine had already spent 16 months in a Venezuelan army jail, accused of crimes he mentioned had been associated to his work as a photojournalist.
However one other jail stint appeared imminent, significantly after the contested re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
With Maduro set to be sworn in for a 3rd time period, Medina, 43, made a tough resolution: to flee his residence in Venezuela for the relative security of Bogota, the capital of neighbouring Colombia.
“Earlier than they may put me again in jail, I made a decision to flee,” mentioned Medina.
Maduro’s authorities has lengthy confronted criticism for the alleged repression of political rivals. However Friday’s inauguration ceremony is about to deliver the current electoral disaster to a head, with observers warning that the violence might escalate as Maduro strives to carry onto energy.
“The regime goes to do all the pieces they will to make sure that Maduro will be re-inaugurated and that he can proceed along with his administration,” mentioned Juan Pappier, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division.
“In the event that they see that chance challenged in any manner, for instance via [opposition-led] demonstrations, they will repress them brutally.”
A local weather of worry
Medina remembers his closing months in Venezuela as being drenched in worry.
Within the lead-up to the controversial election, he had joined the marketing campaign of opposition chief Maria Corina Machado as a photographer, documenting her efforts to galvanise help for presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
However that work as soon as once more made him a goal.
Medina was not unknown to the Maduro authorities: In 2018, he was arrested on prices of cash laundering, prison affiliation and inciting hate, all of which he denies.
As an alternative, he maintains his arrest was in retaliation for his reporting on human rights abuses. He was held with out trial within the Ramo Verde army jail till January 2020.
“The Venezuelan regime doesn’t tolerate any feedback or data in opposition to them,” he mentioned.
“The media is scared,” Medina added. “Freedom of expression in Venezuela has been utterly misplaced as a result of journalists inside Venezuela are doing what they will to keep away from imprisonment.”
However the presidential election on July 28, 2024, introduced political repression worse than any Medina had witnessed earlier than.
Hours after polls closed, the Nationwide Electoral Council named Maduro the winner, with out providing its traditional breakdown of voting tallies.
In the meantime, the opposition printed receipts of the votes that as a substitute steered Gonzalez had gained the election with almost 70 % of the vote. As protests erupted over the alleged electoral fraud, a authorities crackdown ensued.
As state forces swept the streets for protesters, seizing dissidents from their properties, Medina mentioned he was tipped off that he could be jailed — once more.
He rapidly went into hiding. Medina spent two months holed up in several places within the capital Caracas, attempting to keep away from arrest. He mentioned the nation’s intelligence forces had already knocked on the door of his residence within the metropolis.
Feeling cornered, Medina determined to flee on September 15 to Bogota, the place he has stayed ever since.
A wave of repression
As many as 2,500 folks had been in the end detained within the post-election protests, in line with authorities statistics.
One other 25 folks had been killed, in what unbiased investigators for the United Nations referred to as “unprecedented ranges of violence”.
A UN fact-finding mission introduced earlier this month that at the least 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists and one human rights defender had been among the many arrested between August and December.
On Tuesday, the Inter-American Fee on Human Rights additionally printed a report alleging systematic state repression supposed “to stop the political participation of the opposition” and “sow terror amongst residents”.
However within the lead-up to Friday’s inauguration, greater than 1,500 prisoners detained within the post-election sweep have been launched, in what critics say could possibly be an try to cut back scrutiny on the federal government’s human rights file.
Alfredo Romero, the director of Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights watchdog, defined that “having plenty of harmless youths with their relations, particularly their moms, on the door of the prisons” holding vigils was reflecting poorly on the Maduro administration.
Rights teams have additionally questioned the accuracy of the federal government’s numbers.
Romero mentioned that at the least 1,749 prisoners remained in custody as of the primary week of January, and extra alleged dissidents had since been detained.
“Folks could also be launched from jail, nevertheless it doesn’t imply that new ones gained’t be jailed,” he mentioned.
Inauguration backlash
Regardless of widespread worry over repression, demonstrations are anticipated on the day of Maduro’s third inauguration.
Gonzalez, the opposition’s presidential candidate, has additionally pledged to return to Venezuela from his exile overseas and be sworn in on Friday. It’s unclear how or if he’ll comply with via on that pledge.
In a video message posted to social media on Sunday, Machado, who has remained in hiding in Venezuela for months, referred to as on Venezuelans to march in help of a transition of energy this week.
“Maduro shouldn’t be going to depart on his personal, we should make him depart with the energy of a inhabitants that by no means offers up,” Machado mentioned. “It’s time to stand agency and make them perceive that that is so far as they go. That that is over.”
In flip, the Maduro authorities has ramped up safety and deployed greater than 1,200 army personnel to cities throughout the nation to “assure peace” on inauguration day.
The federal government has additionally detained greater than 12 human rights defenders, political activists, and relations of opposition figures in current days, in line with Amnesty Worldwide, a human rights organisation.
The detainments allegedly embody Gonzalez’s son-in-law, Rafael Tudares: The presidential candidate mentioned Tudares was kidnapped by masked males in Caracas on Tuesday.
And on Thursday, Machado herself was detained as she left an anti-Maduro protest, in line with opposition officers who mentioned her transportation was fired upon. She was swiftly launched.
An unsure future
The current arrests have prompted a brand new swell of worldwide condemnation.
America Embassy in Venezuela has referred to as the detention of Gonzalez’s son-in-law an act of “intimidation” in opposition to the opposition. Colombian President Gustavo Petro mentioned that the arrests prevented him from attending Maduro’s inauguration on Friday.
Nonetheless, Maduro’s management of state establishments has allowed safety forces to behave with impunity, in line with the current report from the Inter-American Fee on Human Rights.
Medina himself believes repression in Venezuela might escalate if Maduro stays in energy for a 3rd time period.
“If we don’t obtain freedom, there might be rather more persecution,” mentioned Medina. “They are going to attempt to put an finish to all the pieces that they take into account the opposition, together with political leaders and the media.”
For now, he added that he hopes to proceed his work exposing human rights abuses from overseas.
“What I’ve determined is that, it doesn’t matter what, I’ll struggle for my nation.”
