Maduro Justice: Secret Evidence and Military Courts for Venezuela's Protesters
Maduro Justice: Secret Evidence and Military Courts for Venezuela's Protesters
Taken by police on May 15, Carlos Ramírez waits in a military jail while the government looks for evidence against him. His case is not uncommon.
On May 15, Carlos Ramírez, a student activist in Mérida, Venezuela, was picked up by police at an anti-government protest. Forty-eight hours later, he’d been flown to a military base 300 kilometers away, accused of treason, given only one phone call – and 30 minutes to find an attorney before his first hearing.
“It’s very scary,” said his girlfriend, Adelmina D’Ambrosio, who took the call. “He asked me to stay strong.”
Ramírez’s case is just one example of President Nicolás Maduro’s growing reliance on military courts to quell protests amid Venezuela’s economic and political...
Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.
