Responding to the detention of the National President of COPEI, Roberto Enriquez, by the Chavist régime of Nicolas Maduro, the President of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI-IDC) and former President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana has made the following declaration:
“We denounce the detention of the President of our Venezuelan brother party COPEI, Roberto Enriquez, who has been accused of treason and who has apparently been detained in anticipation of judgement by a military tribunal. We unanimously and strongly condemn this new detention and the arbitrary use of military and judiciary institutions in Venezuela”.
“Once again, the way President Nicolas Maduro has responded to national and international claims with respect to the grave humanitarian, economic, social and political crisis sweeping the South American country has been to increase repression and proceed with the constant destruction of democratic institutions, as evidenced by the continuous attacks against the National Assembly, elected in December 2015, with an overwhelming opposition majority”.
“The response of the Chavist dictatorship to the denunciations by regional and international organizations of the recent coup d’état, and calls for a return to constitutional order, has been to increase the persecution of the opposition and attacks against its leaders.”
The CDI-IDC Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz has made the following statement:
“The COPEI Party played a fundamental role in the instatement of democracy in Spain and was an exemplary party supporting Spanish Christian Democracy in the face of the Franco regime. The detention of the leader of this historical party is one more blow against democracy by the so-called Bolivarian regime”.
“CDI-IDC calls on all national organizations to express their solidarity with the Venezuelan democrats, especially with Roberto Enriquez, at this moment of ruthless attacks by the Nicolas Maduro dictatorship against all democratic dissidence”.
“We hereby reiterate our support for the desire of the majority of the Venezuelan people to regain freedom and democratic institutionality through the immediate release of all political prisoners, respect for the responsibilities and functions of the National Assembly, by the immediate establishment of channels for the enablement of humanitarian aid efforts in order to help the most helpless part of the Venezuelan population, and insist on the right of the Venezuelan people to express their free will through the organization of general elections at the earliest date possible.”
