Plainclothes paramilitaries attacked a group of mothers, wives, and sisters of political prisoners during a nighttime vigil outside Venezuela’s Supreme Court in Caracas, human rights organizations report. The vigil was organized by relatives and activists from the “Committee of Mothers Defending Truth,” gathered at a plaza near the courthouse in the capital’s center.
NGO Provea stated the assailants—members of paramilitary groups known as “Colectivos”—”struck the mothers with blunt objects and kicked them.” These Colectivos maintain affiliations with Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party and its satellite organizations, facing international accusations of severe human rights violations.
Provea further detailed that attackers destroyed gazebos erected near the court building and robbed multiple demonstrators amid other violent assaults.