WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement following reports of the abduction of Perkins Rocha, Maria Corina Machado’s personal lawyer, and as Venezuela continues to see an increase in the arbitrary detentions of peaceful protestors and opposition party members.
“A month after facing defeat at the polls and ignoring consistent calls from the international community to release voting data, Maduro and his regime have chosen violence and arbitrary arrests over acknowledging the will of the Venezuelan people. This response has been marked by the mass detention of peaceful protestors – many of them children – and the targeting of opposition party members, and it must end immediately.
“The Venezuelan people have bravely taken to the streets, demanding that their government honor the outcome of the election. Maduro’s campaign of repression and disinformation cannot silence their voices or rewrite history.
“Since the election, Maduro’s security forces have arrested countless individuals, often without warrants, creating what the United Nations has described as ‘a climate of fear.’ Opposition figures have been forced into hiding, and lawyers and representatives of the opposition, including Maria Corina Machado’s personal lawyer and representative before the national electoral council, Perkins Rocha, have been abducted or detained. The international community must not turn away; it must continue to forcefully speak out. I will always stand on the side of democracy and human rights. It’s long past time for Maduro and his regime to do the same.”
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