Venezuela has revoked the passports of dozens of journalists and activists following President Nicolas Maduro’s disputed re-election, in response to a report by Reuters. The transfer is seen by rights teams as a part of an escalating marketing campaign of repression towards Maduro’s opponents.
Not less than 40 people, primarily journalists and human rights activists, have had their passports annulled with out rationalization. Caracas-based rights group Laboratorio de Paz, which supplied the knowledge, warned that the precise variety of circumstances might be a lot increased, as many Venezuelans are reluctant to report such incidents, as reported by Reuters.
The rights group indicated that passports have been confiscated on the nation’s foremost airport as people tried to board flights. Rafael Uzcátegui, co-director of Laboratorio de Paz, acknowledged, “Not like homicide or torture, which have a better political value, the federal government has discovered that passport cancellation is an efficient approach of neutralising and silencing crucial voices with minimal effort.”
This report follows Maduro’s contentious victory in Venezuela’s July elections, a end result that has been broadly rejected by opposition teams and worldwide our bodies. Laboratorio de Paz was not instantly out there for remark, in response to Reuters.
(with inputs from Reuters)
