Relatives of 174 workers of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) detained in the years 2024 and 2025they reported this February 18 who were accused of different crimes without knowing, without “evidence or right to defense”.
“Our relatives were taken to court for the first time without even allowing them private defense legally. I want to point out to national and international public opinion: They were presented in a telematic hearing and when they left there, they went directly to Yare; only some were able to see their public defender two months later“said lawyer Zimaru Fuentes, a relative of a prisoner, while testifying at a press conference with more than a hundred mothers and relatives.
Sources assure that To date, his relatives do not know the identity of the public defenders assigned by the State.despite They arrive almost two years after being arbitrarily arrested.
“To this day none of our people know their defenders; That makes this case a null case from the beginning, where all constitutional guarantees and rights were violated.”, he stated.
For the wives, mothers and relatives of the political prisoners of the “Pdvsa Obrero Case”their cases have been the subject of institutional reporting so that they are not linked to a political action that they ask to be taken into account as part of the Amnesty Law that the National Assembly (AN) advance.
“They want to sell us as if we are not a political case. There is disproportionality in the application of the law, the violation of due process that is totally arbitrary. We have the crime as a cover to justify being able to open a file”, he insisted.
The relatives request that the national reconciliation announced by the “president in charge” Delcy Rodríguez be extended so “real” to all those affected and that the general amnesty is “inclusive” to accept the case of his relatives.
“How can we talk about reconciliation when we still have political prisoners? Here we do not know how many political prisoners there are; We cannot count them. We are talking about a law that is projected to be exclusive and we truly trust that this project is inclusive and that it involves everyone.”, he stressed.
The affected PDVSA workers belong to oil facilities in different regions of the country, and are distributed as follows: 73 from Puerto La Cruz, 3 from La Guaira, 14 from the El Cardón Refinery, 24 from the Amuay Refinery, 2 from the Capital District and 4 from Punto Fijo; held in prisons in Yare 2, Yare 3, Las Crisálidas and Fort Guaicaipuro.
