Maduro Vowed 'No Mercy,' Then Aid Worker Disappeared

AP highlights Edni López's detainment amid wave of human right abuses in Venezuela
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 8, 2024 1:30 PM CDT
Maduro Vowed 'No Mercy,' Then Aid Worker Disappeared
Family members of people who were detained during the recent protests against President Nicolas Maduro's reelection, gather outside the Boleita National Police detention center as they wait for news of their loved ones, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 1, 2024.   (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

The last time anyone heard from Edni López was Sunday. The 33-year-old political science professor and award-winning poet was preparing to board a flight from Venezuela to Argentina to visit a friend when she texted from the airport that something was wrong with her passport. "It's showing up as expired," she wrote her boyfriend in the message shared with the AP. "I pray to God I don't get screwed because of a system error." What happened next remains a mystery—one contributing to the climate of fear and repression that has engulfed Venezuela following its disputed presidential election, the most serious wave of human rights abuses since Latin America's military dictatorships in the 1970s.

On Tuesday, more than 48 hours after López sent the text, family and friends learned she was being held, incommunicado, by Venezuela's feared military intelligence police on unknown criminal charges, unable to see an attorney or speak with her family. Her arrest isn't unique. Since the July 28 presidential election, security forces have rounded up more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against President Nicolás Maduro or casting doubt on his claim he won a third term despite strong evidence he lost the vote by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Another 24 have been killed, according to local human rights group Provea.

The spree of detentions—urged on by Maduro himself—is unprecedented, and puts Venezuela on pace to easily exceed those jailed during three previous crackdowns against Maduro's opponents. In just 10 days, security forces have rounded up nearly the same number of people as they did over five months in 2017, according to Provea. Those arrested include journalists, political leaders, campaign staffers, and an attorney defending protesters. Others have had their Venezuelan passports annulled trying to leave the country. One local activist even livestreamed her arrest by military intelligence officers as they broke into her home with a crowbar. "There will be no mercy," Maduro said on state TV.

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While demonstrations have been far smaller and tamer than during past bouts of unrest, they're now more spontaneous, often leaderless and made up of youth—some barely teenagers—from Caracas' hillside slums who have traditionally been a rock solid base of support for the government. López's friends and family are at a loss to explain why she was targeted. Since 2020, she's been carrying out humanitarian relief work in poor communities, for which she was honored as one of Venezuela's "100 Protagonist Women" by the Dutch embassy in Caracas. She doesn't belong to any political movement and her social media profile is void of anti-government content. She was about to take "her first trip outside Venezuela," says friend Cristina Ramirez. "I'm still waiting for her." (More Venezuela stories.)

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