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María Corina Machado Alleges 'Systematic' Execution Threats Against Political Prisoners at Venezuela's El Rodeo

She urges rapid international monitoring following NGO reports of guards threatening to use detainees as human shields.

Overview

  • Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace laureate, said on X she received reports of direct, repeated threats of extrajudicial execution against detainees at El Rodeo near Caracas.
  • She attributed the threats to officials from state security organs and called them crimes against humanity and grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
  • Her appeal pressed for immediate protection for political prisoners, access for independent observers, and urgent diplomatic pressure from allied governments.
  • The Venezuelan Prison Observatory reported testimonies that guards warned prisoners they would be used as human shields in the event of a U.S. intervention.
  • The allegations intersect with the detention of Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo and his partner’s consular complaint, while Caracas has not publicly responded as U.S. naval moves and sanctions heighten tensions.