SHARE: YouTube | Twitter | Instagram
Venezuelan activist Pedro Urruchurtu was targeted by Maduro regime. UN Watch gave him the floor of the UN Human Rights Council to expose the details of his persecution in a dramatic testimony, provoking angry interruption by the Venezuelan dictatorship’s representative.
Full Speech (English translation):
My name is Pedro Urruchurtu, and I speak before you as a Venezuelan who was deprived of his liberty for more than 400 days for political reasons.
Two months ago, I was rescued-along with four colleagues-from the Argentine embassy in Caracas, a diplomatic mission converted into a prison by Maduro’s repressive apparatus: five months without electricity, three minutes of water every ten days, rifles pointed at the windows, and dogs trained to bite; only because those in power considered it a crime to direct the campaigns of Maria Corina Machado in the opposition primaries and Edmundo González in the presidential elections. Both won.
The Venezuelan state murdered diplomatic asylum and turned the Caracas Convention into a mere piece of paper; a treaty that was signed more than 70 years ago in the same city where I was held hostage. Today I am here despite the State, and not thanks to it, because if it were up to it, I would be missing or dead.
More than a thousand people remain detained in Venezuela for political reasons, and dozens of foreign citizens remain deprived of their liberty as part of a policy of exchange and coercion incompatible with international law. Hostage diplomacy.
Repression also means censorship, disqualifications, torture, and forced exile. Those who choose to turn a blind eye or “normalize” what is happening endorse a model that denies the rights of an entire society. Silence is another prison.
We Venezuelans expect courage from the international community. Demanding respect for popular sovereignty, as expressed on July 28, condemning human rights violations, and working to end impunity is not interference: it is a moral obligation in the face of a prolonged and documented crisis.
My freedom is not a respite; it is a reminder that walls have cracks. If you act decisively, these cracks will become the path to liberating those who still resist in our country. Thank you.
Full Speech (Original in Spanish):
Soy Pedro Urruchurtu, y estuve privado de libertad durante más de 400 días por razones políticas. Hace dos meses fui rescatado junto a cuatro compañeros de la embajada argentina en Caracas, convertida en prisión por el aparato represivo de Maduro: cinco meses sin luz; tres minutos de agua cada diez días; rifles apuntándonos, y perros entrenados para morder; sólo porque desde el poder consideraron un crimen dirigir las campañas victoriosas de María Corina Machado y de Edmundo González.
El Estado venezolano asesinó el asilo diplomático. Hoy estoy aquí a pesar del Estado, y no gracias a él, porque si fuera por él, estaría desaparecido o muerto. Terrorismo de Estado, según la CIDH.
Casi mil personas siguen detenidas en Venezuela por motivos políticos, junto a decenas de extranjeros, como parte de una política de canje y coacción incompatible con el derecho internacional.
Represión también es tortura, censura, inhabilitaciones y exilio forzado.
Quienes optan por “normalizar” lo que sucede, avalan un modelo que niega los derechos a toda una sociedad. El silencio es otra celda.
Los venezolanos esperamos valentía por parte de la comunidad internacional.
No es injerencia exigir que se respete la soberanía popular expresada el 28 de julio, condenar la violación de derechos humanos y trabajar por la justicia; es una obligación moral.
Nuestra libertad es un recordatorio de que los muros tienen grietas, y, si nos acompañan, esas grietas se convertirán en el camino para liberar a los que resisten en nuestro país.
