A Venezuelan opposition leader and activist, Reinaldo Araujo, who was arrested during the Anti-government protest has been pronounced dead by medical experts after a prolonged ailment inside the country’s prison.
It was learnt that Araujo, a leader of the Vente Venezuela party in Trujillo state, had been suffering from health problems, which his wife were not treated while in correctional facility.
The late activist’s wife accused the authorities of neglecting her husband’s medical needs, despite her warnings about his deteriorating health.
“They failed to provide him with medical care until it was too late,” she said.
According to her, Araujo had been returning from a medical appointment and was merely observing the January 9 protest when he was taken away into state custody.
Meanwhile, Vente Venezuela leader, María Machado, who confirmed his demise on Tuesday, said she held “the regime” of President Nicolás Maduro responsible for Araujo’s death.
Similarly, the head of the regional body Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, denounced Araujo’s death, through a social media post while describing it as a “new atrocity of the regime”.
Almagro has been an outspoken critic of the president, accusing the Venezuelan leader of repressing the opposition in the run-up and the aftermath of the last year July’s presidential election.
His accusation comes after the Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), a body closely aligned with the government, declared Maduro the winner of the election without providing detailed voting tallies to back up their claim.
The OAS’s electoral observation department, along with Venezuela’s opposition coalition, refused to recognize the election result, citing the CNE’s bias towards the government.
This led to a protest on the eve of Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony, resulting in the arrest of Araujo and others.
According to the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, hundreds of protesters were arrested in the days leading up to Maduro’s inauguration and sent to jails notorious for the mistreatment of detainees.
