A Chavista court on Thursday ordered the deprivation of liberty of five workers from Azul Positivo , a Venezuelan NGO that focuses its work on the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases and against which it had already advanced in recent days.
Specifically, the Fourth Control Court of the state of Zulia, headed by Judge Yesiré Rincón Pertuz, ordered the measure after the prosecution accused the members of “fraudulent handling of smart cards or similar instruments, association to commit crimes and legitimization of capitals ”.
The measure comes two days after military counterintelligence officers and regional police raided the organization's headquarters, a fact that earned them local and international convictions. It was there that the members were arrested. According to local media Monitoreamos , they will be held at the DGCIM headquarters in Maracaibo.
"The detention of the members of Azul Positivo represents risks to the lives of people with HIV who serve in Zulia, leaving families without protection in food insecurity and the communities benefiting from their programs," denounced the Human Rights Commission of the Estado Zulia (Codhez) through its account on the social network of Twitter.
The Commission also demanded that "international humanitarian system installed in Venezuela must make a firm statement to the closing of spaces for assistance, protection and alleviating humanitarian suffering" .
Meanwhile, the UN on Thursday condemned the attack by the Nicolás Maduro regime against press freedom and civil society in Venezuela . In a statement, the spokesperson for the Office for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado, indicated that the organization is "deeply concerned" by the latest advances of the dictatorship against both sectors.
They specifically mentioned the raid against the NGO Azul Positivo , which focuses its work on the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and the recent actions against three media outlets: VPITV, Panorama and TalCual .
Regarding the first event, he recalled that it took place on January 12 in the state of Zulia , when officers from the military counterintelligence and the regional police entered the headquarters of the non-governmental organization.
“Documents were seized and six employees were arrested. Five remain in detention. They have not been able to see their lawyers or their relatives ”, the document details. And he adds: " This is the second time in the last two months that the office of a humanitarian NGO has been raided and its staff questioned, supposedly due to funding received from abroad ." Read more via Infobae