Maduro Ramps Up Venezuela Repression, Drawing Neighbor’s Ire
(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s government has ramped up repression, triggering a protest from one of its closest allies, as the opposition plans nationwide demonstrations against Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration as president this week.
Most Read from Bloomberg
NYC Condo Owners May Bear Costs of Landmark Green Building Law
NYC’s Subway Violence Deters Drive to Bring Workers Back to Office
Around two dozen people have been detained since the start of the year, including a relative of opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González and Enrique Márquez, a harsh critic of Maduro’s policies and former vice president of the opposition-led National Assembly.
The socialist regime has increased the street presence of security forces across the country as tensions rise ahead of González’s vowed return to Venezuela on Friday to be sworn in as president, despite government threats to arrest him upon arrival. Maduro’s repression has even riled his ideological allies in Latin America, including Colombian leader Gustavo Petro.
Maduro — who was declared the winner by the electoral authority without presenting evidence — is gearing up to begin a third consecutive term in the oil-rich South American nation despite international condemnation.
The US, European Union and other nations say González clearly won the most votes in July’s election, with Joe Biden’s administration in November recognizing him as president-elect. Maduro’s government has scoffed at this, deploying a large number of security forces across Caracas since December, including check points on highways and major avenues.
Colombian President Petro said Wednesday he would skip Maduro’s inauguration, citing the arrest of Márquez and others. The Andean leftist has been the world leader who has most frequently visited Maduro, traveling to Venezuela and the border to meet him at least five times since the start of his term in 2022.
“We ask, from our own struggle for human rights in Colombia, that they be respected for everyone in Venezuela,” Petro said in announcing his decision not to attend.
González said Tuesday that his son-in-law, Rafael Tudares, was “intercepted by hooded men in black” and loaded into a van as he was taking his children, aged 6 and 7, to their first day of school.
Around 10 activists working for Vente Venezuela, the party helmed by banned opposition leader María Corina Machado, have been detained in Trujillo state this month. Graffiti and signs saying “Maduro lost” and “Edmundo won on July 28” have appeared around several towns in the western state in recent days.
Machado, who has been in hiding since early August, said Tuesday that police forces were surrounding her mother’s home and neighborhood in Caracas. Carlos Correa, a human rights activist and head of NGO Espacio Publico, was also detained in downtown Caracas, his wife Mabel Calderin said in a post on Instagram.
Another opposition party, Voluntad Popular, also denounced illegal detentions by government forces, saying in a post on X 19 people were rounded up on Tuesday alone, including “civilians, activists and human rights defenders.”
Arbitrary Detention
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned about reports of further arbitrary detention and persecution against members of the opposition,” including their relatives and other human right defenders.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the right to have opinions without interference,” Guterres said through his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a press conference on Wednesday.
González, a little-known former ambassador before his presidential run last year, has been on a diplomatic blitz ahead of Venezuela’s inauguration, meeting with Biden at the White House, Argentina’s Javier Milei and Luis Lacalle Pou of Uruguay in the last week. He arrived in Panama late Tuesday for talks Wednesday with President Jose Raul Mulino.
(Updates with the UN Secretary-General Guterres’ comments on recent arrests in the 10th paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
The US Government Is Sitting on a Possible Solution to the Housing Crisis
Luxury Brands Need to Get Over Their Youth Fixation to Offset Drag From Trump’s Tariffs
Israel’s Wartime Farmers Are Relearning How to Plow Without GPS
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
