 Arrested for speaking in public: General Carlos Alfonzo Martinez |
Monday, while giving a pro-democracy speech in a public square in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, one of the country's highest ranking Generals was arbitrarily detained by forces loyal to the Chavez government.
At 2:10 pm, General Carlos Alfonzo Martinez of the Guardia Nacional was detained by five DISIP (Political Police) squadrons, acting on direct verbal orders from beleaguered president Hugo Chavez and without a formal order for his arrest. No charges were pressed, nor had a warrant been issued. The exact whereabout of Gen. Alfonzo Martinez are currently unknown, and no Chavez loyalist has been willing to issue a statement.
When detained, general Alfonzo Martinez was in Plaza Madariaga in the El Paraíso neighborhood of Caracas, participating in a public pro-democracy event calling for free and democratic elections. Immediately after giving a speech, DISIP forces moved in to arrest him, without stating the grounds for his arrest. TV crews in the square filmed how machinegun fire dispersed his pro-democracy supporters.
Cipriano Heredia, legal counsel for Gen. Alfonzo Martinez, was refused access to his client. When he presented himself at DISIP headquarters, he was told to leave or else suffer the consequences. TV cameras then filmed a DISIP-officer signalling a waiting Chavez-group into action. Minutes later, a coordinated team of apparently civilian Chavez supporters arrived with molotov cocktails, bricks, and firearms, and attacked the lawyer's vehicle. The destroyed wreck still sits in front of DISIP, Helicoide, Caracas, along with a TV truck from the RCTV channel that were vandalized in the same action.
" - This is state sponsored terrorism," says Heredia. "Everyone saw on TV how the officers coordinated with their civilian terror groups, who then arrived as ordered and started the previously planned violence."
In the attack, one person was wounded by a stone thrown at close range by a Chavez supporter. This, too, was filmed and shown on live national television. The victim went into spasms, and is currently in intensive care and in unstable condition.
No one has been able to talk to General Carlos Alfonzo Martinez, despite repeated attempts by both his lawyer and his wife.
" - They are keeping my client incomunicado," says Heredia. "As his lawyer, I am supposed to have access to him. But Venezuela is today a savage police state."
Our repeated attempts to contact a government spokesperson were consistently unsuccesful. More than ten different officials contacted were all "on vacation".
Doris de Martínez, wife of the illegally arrested general, was also unable to obtain any information about her husband. The arresting officers would not tell her where they took him, nor why.
" - In theory, Venezuela's constitution allows freedom of speech, including speech critical of the president. But in practice, we see now how Chavez acts. He does not allow views other than his own. This is a violation of all constitutional rights. I hold Hugo Chavez directly responsible. However, my husband can not be intimidated. He will continue to ask for freedom and elections."
" - The General is now a political prisoner," says fellow general Enrique Medina Gomez, also a resister who is critical of Chavez. "By kidnapping him this way, we see the Chavez dictatorship in action. He was kidnapped. There was no order for his arrest, because you can not be arrested for speaking your mind and asking for free and democratic elections."
Medina Gomez started this year as Chavez's Military Attache in Washington D.C., but then broke with Chavez when he found out the true plans of the Chavez regime. Today, Medina Gomez is one of Chavez's most vocal opponents.
" - Desperately clinging to power, Hugo Chavez is now taking political prisoners. He has shown the world that he is not a democrat. His government is totalitarian, and will not tolerate free elections for Venezuela."
More information on these top military officers who have only recently left Chavez, and know and share what's really going on there, is here:
www.MilitaresDemocraticos.com
December 30, 2002