More than a thousand people arrested in Venezuela after protests against presidential election results

– A total of 1,062 people have been arrested in Venezuela this week following numerous protests in various regions of the country against the official election result on Sunday, which ratified Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, as re-elected president, reported this Wednesday the attorney general, Tarek William Saab.

The official clarified that if it is proven, after the corresponding investigation, that some of the detainees did not participate in the protests, they will be released, but “those who are found responsible (…) will remain deprived of their freedom for many years.”

Saab said that, according to a preliminary report, 77 members of the State security forces were injured during the protests, 29 more than those reported on Tuesday, when he also reported the death of a sergeant in the Aragua region (north).

The prosecutor showed a sequence of videos of “terrorist attacks” where “groups that cannot in any way be called peaceful protesters” appear, while saying that in these demonstrations there are “paramilitary groups” and that “the commandos” – as the political organization groups of the opposition campaign of Edmundo González Urrutia are called – “were criminal groups.”

The official said that the Attorney General’s Office and the Venezuelan justice system “will not allow an escalation” that leads to “embryos of civil war” and assured that, after the protests on Monday and Tuesday, there is “a tense calm” thanks to the “arm of justice” and “the courts.”

Saab did not refer to the injured protesters, who were repelled with tear gas and pellets used by the police, as confirmed by EFE in Caracas. Instead, he accused some of “the crime of simulating (deaths)” and “spreading messages that cause anxiety and panic among the population.”

Maduro denounced that a coup attempt “of a fascist nature” is underway, in view of the questions about his re-election, which was rejected by the majority opposition and a large part of the international community.

The main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), said that its candidate, González Urrutia, won the presidency by a wide margin, thanks to the compilation of 85% of the electoral records through witnesses that were scanned and published on an internet page.