Rafael Tudares, son-in-law of Edmundo González and arrested in January for his alleged participation in a conspiracy, is undergoing a “clandestine criminal trial,” his wife stated. Mariana González denounced that the authorities have systematically denied having contact with her husband who, according to the public defender who is handling her case, would be held in the El Rodeo I prison.
Rafael Tudares Bracho, son-in-law of opposition leader Edmundo González, spent 10 months in detention and forced disappearance. His wife, Mariana González, reported this Friday, November 7, that he is undergoing a “clandestine” trial and during this period the authorities “deny me the most basic thing: faith in my life.”
«All the humanitarian efforts that I have carried out until now have been absolutely ignored by the institutions and authorities of the Venezuelan State with the sole purpose of preventing me from knowing the fate and real whereabouts of my husband. They prevent me from accessing him and being able to communicate with Rafael to verify his life, physical integrity and state of physical and mental health. “They deny me the most basic thing: faith in life,” González said in a statementpublished on their social networks.
The wife of Tudares, arrested in January in front of his minor children and accused of alleged conspiracy, stated that “he is being followed in a criminal trial clandestinely (…) the authorities and each of the public officials handling the case against Rafael know that these accusations are unfounded.”
“However, these public officials have openly and without major qualms been complicit in the systematic violation of Rafael’s human rights, his guarantees of due process and the right to defense; they have even confessed and covered up his Forced Disappearance, expressly prohibited by Article 45 of the Constitution,” said González.
She also accused that the rights expressed in the Constitution seem not to apply in the case of her husband, because while the authorities condemn forced disappearances in other countries, “paradoxically, they execute and maintain in a situation of forced disappearance my husband Rafael Tudares Bracho and dozens of other Venezuelans.”
Missing and no answers
Mariana González reaffirmed that the authorities have systematically denied having contact with her husband who, according to the public defender handling her case, would be held in the El Rodeo I prison. “In that prison or detention center I have been denied on more than 30 occasions for him to be there.”
He also accused the public defender of omitting his requests or efforts. “Far from taking any action to defend Rafael and guarantee his rights, he remains so indifferent to the case that he does not even have the correct file number of the case in the Trial Court that is now hearing the case, because they claim to have a “confusion” about it.”
Likewise, he indicated that the Ombudsman’s Office has not responded adequately to the complaint that he filed four months ago. “I know and know that Rafael is a hostage, because this is what the Venezuelan authorities have informed me, including his previous Public Defender: he is in this situation of forced disappearance simply because he is my father’s son-in-law, despite not having committed any crime.”
Mariana González reaffirmed that neither she nor her husband are linked to her father’s political activities. He requested that, given the proximity of the Christmas holidays, his immediate release be allowed. «Despite the circumstances, I will continue to demand faith in the life, physical integrity and health of Rafael. “I will continue fighting for their rights, through all available humanitarian means.”
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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