Videos, torture, and peace

Easter week has been a triumph for peace, according to President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro showed videos last night of what he said are detained opposition militants confessing to being paid by opposition party Primero Justicia to commit “terrorist acts.” Maduro called the videos “testimonials” and said that he has been authorized to show the “confessions” on television by the “Citizens Power and the Judicial Power.”

Maduro also said that such videos, the product of an “impeccable criminal investigation,” are irrefutable evidence that the opposition is engaged in terrorists and destabilizing activities.

“Here are the testimonies, the proofs, and we are about to capture those directly responsible for all this destruction in the country. We are following several investigation lines. I want to congratulate the officers of the CICPC (criminal investigations police) and the SEBIN (political police), the Interior, Peace, and Justice Minister, prosecution authorities all over the country, and the Judicial Power for this meticulous work done according to our laws,” commended Maduro.

The Secretary General of the Primero Justicia party, Tomás Guanipa, claimed that members of his party detained during this last week’s opposition protests had been “physically and psychologically tortured” and forced to confess to participating in acts of terrorism. Guanipa, and other opposition deputies, were mentioned in the confessions as the “master minds” of the plot.