Four Members of Vente Venezuela Charged with Hate Crimes

The attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, announced that Luis López, Juan Iriarte, Jean Carlos Rivas, and Ismael Gonzalez of Vente Venezuela (VV, the organization led by María Corina Machado) in La Guaira state were arrested after being charged with the crimes of incitement to hate and association.

On his social media accounts, Saab wrote that the aforementioned citizens “in a call made by Vente Venezuela, aggressively went to the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB)-Maiquetía Command [in La Guaira state], where they tried to enter by means of force with the intention of causing injuries to the members of the aforementioned military component, creating anxiety and generating terror to the inhabitants of the area.”

#AHORA #imputados y #privados de libertad los sujetos Luis López, Juan Iriarte, Jeancarlos Rivas e Ismael Gonzalez, por los #delitos de Incitación al Odio y Asociación:
a) estas personas en una convocatoria realizada por #VV se dirigieron agresivamente al Comando de la… pic.twitter.com/X7gwJKhIVt
— Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) June 19, 2024

The attorney general explained that “Johny Rivas and Jhillkys Alcila, against whom an arrest warrant was also issued, remain fugitives from justice and are being pursued.”

Hate crimes
Saab, on social media, remarked that a “hate crime” is any crime that has been motivated by a bias or prejudice against a person for belonging to a specific group or practicing a characteristic set of actions, e.g., a specific ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, race, or religious belief.

Saab added that hate crimes aim to induce fear and cause psychological or physical harm to people.

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For this reason, he said that “in our country, under our management in the Public Ministry, any act that involves instigation of hatred, assault on public institutions, burning people, attempted coups d’état, armed insurrection, guarimbas, etc., will be severely punished…”

The hate episode was initiated by a group of Vente Venezuela supporters during a campaign rally for its presidential candidate Edmundo González in Maiquetia on Saturday, June 8. The group approached the military unit in an aggressive manner reminiscent of right-wing provocateurs during the 2014 and 2017 violent street protests known as guarimbas.

(Últimas Noticias) by Aura Torrealba with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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