The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, expressed this Monday its rejection of the mobility restrictions suffered by Cardinal Baltazar Porras, who reported having been prevented from reaching the town of Isnotú, in the state of Trujillo – birthplace of the recently canonized José Gregorio Hernández-, where he had planned a pastoral activity.
Through a statement on its official X account, the PUD “categorically condemned the serious events reported by Cardinal Baltazar Porras, who was prevented from fulfilling his pastoral mission through an arbitrary deployment that blocked his free movement and the exercise of his ministry.”
He described the action as “a profound disrespect towards the Catholic Church” and “a direct insult to the Venezuelan people, whose faith has always been refuge, strength and consolation in the most difficult moments.”
He also stressed that “freedom of religion and worship is a fundamental human right,” and recalled that “no authority has the legitimacy to prevent an expression of faith by the people.”
“The Church and its pastors must be able to carry out their spiritual work without intimidation, obstacles or pressure,” the organization added. He insisted that the country “needs respect, not impositions,” as well as faith and “not threats.”
Cardinal Porras denounces military blockade when moving to Isnotú
On Saturday, Cardinal Porras reported through a video broadcast on social media that He and those who accompanied him were detained when they were trying to travel by land to Isnotú from an airport in the state of Lara. According to their testimony, they found themselves “surrounded by a number of soldiers armed to the teeth.”
The religious explained that he was traveling on a private flight that was diverted to Lara after the pilots received the order to “make a stopover” due to the alleged closure of the airport in Trujillo. However, he explained that they later received “direct information that the airport was not closed and that different flights continued to arrive.”
Porras also noted that he had previously been notified by email about the alleged cancellation of a flight from the state airline Conviasa in which he planned to travel to Trujillo. However, he assured that the flight finally “departed and arrived correctly at Valera,” which increased his suspicions about the nature of the blockade.
The cardinal He had already recently expressed concern about the situation in the country. On October 18, in Rome and on the eve of the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández, he affirmed that the Venezuelan reality is “morally unacceptable” and warned that “the decline in the exercise of citizen freedom, the growth of poverty” and “militarization as a form of government” make up “a panorama that does not help peaceful coexistence.”
