A student confronting the National Police near Plaza Venezuela, 2014. Image by NoonIcarus via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 Universal. Photo edited by Global Voices.
Edni López, a humanitarian worker at the Venezuelan organization Fundación S4V, poet and professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, was at Venezuela's main airport before leaving on vacation to Argentina on the morning of Sunday, August 4. State security officials did not allow her to board the plane due to the alleged expiration of her passport, according to her relatives.
No one knows the charges nor her exact place of detention, according to Venezuelan social media users (with the hashtag #DóndeEstáEdni) and NGOs specialized in human rights such as Provea (Venezuelan Program for Human Rights Education-Action). López's disappearance was, in turn, the subject of an Amnesty International alert.
Here you can get to know Edni López, in her own words:
¿No conoces a @EdniLopez?
Edni López es poeta, defensora y trabajadora humanitaria. Este año fue parte de las #100protagonistas en Venezuela, un grupo de mujeres destacadas.
Hoy ha estado detenida desde las 10am, cuando fue capturada. pic.twitter.com/RURlQqQsEn— Luis Carlos 🏴☠️ One Piece (@LuisCarlos) August 5, 2024
You don't know @EdniLopez?
Edni López is a poet, advocate and humanitarian worker. This year she was part of the #100protagonistas in Venezuela, a group of outstanding women.
Today she has been detained since 10am, when she was captured.
Yendri Velásquez, activist and founder of the Observatorio Venezolano de Violencias LGBTIQ+ (Venezuelan Observatory of Violence against LGBTQ+), was similarly detained on August 3 at the same airport (Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas) by security authorities on his way to a session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination in Geneva, Switzerland. Velásquez was released that same day.
On August 2, human rights lawyer Kennedy Tejada was detained by the National Guard while inquiring about the situation of detainees protesting in Carabobo, northern Venezuela. Tejada is a lawyer for Foro Penal, an NGO that promotes the right to defense and provides legal advice in political detentions. According to lawyer Julio Henríquez: “there is also no arrest warrant against Kennedy Tejeda, (…) nor against the overwhelming majority of the 988 arrested in the post-electoral context.”
Kennedy es mi alumno. Es abogado defensor y activista de DDHH. Es querido y respetado en su comunidad. Es gente decente, de bien. #LiberenAKennedy https://t.co/P7kLJfSehn pic.twitter.com/jvAKkUNSKK
— Antonio Canova (@antoniocanovag) August 4, 2024
Kennedy is my student. He is a defense lawyer and human rights activist. He is loved and respected in his community. He is a decent, good guy. #FreeKennedy
Provea and other organizations report that the hundreds of people being detained are not allowed to choose a private or non-profit attorney. Their families are also not allowed to see them. Provea also warns that collective hearings are taking place in Venezuela, in which there is no chance for individual trials for the alleged crimes.
Case follow-ups
The cases of López, Tejada and Kennedy are part of the more than 1000 victims of human rights violations (arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances and killings) documented by the Foro Penal after the disputed Venezuelan presidential elections of July 28. Foro Penal's factual report can be followed on its X account (formerly Twitter) and is updated daily in the morning hours in Venezuela.
Below is the report for August 8:
#8Ag Balance de represión (postelectoral) actualizado a las 7:00am por @ForoPenal.
Detenciones y asesinatos verificados, ocurridos desde el 29 de julio hasta el 8 de agosto 7am:
-1.229 detenciones
Incluyendo:
105 adolescentes
5 indigenas
16 discapacitados
157 mujeres pic.twitter.com/mDwwnAUOPQ— Foro Penal (@ForoPenal) August 8, 2024
#8Ag Post-election crackdown report card updated at 7:00am by @ForoPenal.
Verified arrests and killings that occurred from July 29 to August 8 7am:
-1,229 arrests.
Including:
105 teenagers
5 Indigenous people
16 disabled people
157 women
Additionally, the MonitorVictimas initiative, developed by the Venezuelan media outlet RunRunes and the NGO MiConvite, compiles stories of victims from all parts of the country, sourced from different national and international media. Not all of them have a hashtag accompanying them.
‘Operation Tun-Tun’ or threats to opponents
Persecution has fertile ground in post-electoral Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro, the disputed president, acknowledged on August 3 the existence of more than 2,000 prisoners as a result of the post-electoral demonstrations and said that they were sent to Tocorón and Tocuyito, detention centers located in the center of Venezuela.
“With the civil-military and police union we solved the fascist coup. We have 2,000 prisoners captured and from there they go to Tocorón and Tocuyito. Maximum punishment, justice. This time there will be no pardon, this time there will be no pardon, this time there will be Tocorón,” declared Maduro in front of supporters during a pro-government march on Saturday, August 3:
🔴 DIRECTO VENEZUELA | Nicolás Maduro : «Tenemos 2000 presos capturados y de allí van para Tocorón y Tocuyito, ésta vez no va haber perdón»https://t.co/BaAdvZw5jl pic.twitter.com/eEXtNAzKCC
— LA GACETA (@gaceta_es) August 4, 2024
VENEZUELA LIVE : Nicolás Maduro : “We have captured 2000 prisoners and they are going to Tocorón and Tocuyito, this time there will be no pardon.”
In that speech, Maduro made no mention of due process. The confrontation of fascism has been part of Maduro's government narrative since at least 2020 and was the subject of a bill presented in April 2024 before the National Assembly (the highest Venezuelan legislative body): the Law against Fascism, Neo-Fascism and Similar Expressions. The draft law seeks to deal with those who “resort to violence as a form of political action.”
Current government officials also reissued the call for “Operation Tun Tun” (“Operation Knock Knock”), a method of persecution and arbitrary searches by state security agencies of dissidents of the Venezuelan government. The Independent Fact-Finding Mission of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations called it a violation human rights in 2020.
According to the UN, “Tun Tun” is the sound of knocking on doors.
Also on August 3, the director of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminalistic Investigations Corps (Venezuelan Scientific Police), Douglas Rico, openly called for the Operation Tun Tun: “Operation Tun Tun is just beginning: Report if you have been the object of a physical or virtual hate campaign via social media,” he wrote on Instagram.
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The media outlet Efecto Cocuyo reported on Operation Tun Tun by police forces in different Venezuelan states, directed against opposition demonstrators.
