A contingent of approximately 15 officials from the Bolivarian National Police (PNB), headed by Commissioner Félix Rodríguez, This Thursday, he prevented the Spanish MEPs Hermann Tertsch and Jorge Martín Frías from entering the lawyer’s residence. constitutionalist and political prisoner Perkins Rocha in Caracas.
The impediment was carried out even though the meeting had been arranged since, as confirmed by the family and the legal defense, there is no judicial restriction that limits visits to the property where the jurist is under house arrest.
According to the testimony of Rocha’s wife, Maria Costanza Ciprianithe police commission approached the European parliamentarians upon their arrival at the building on the grounds that access was not authorized, and they deployed a human barrier when she tried to accompany the visitors inside the house.
“I asked them to give me the court order that prevented that entry and they only told me that they were orders and that’s it. When I tried to enter with the MEPs, they put up a picket of approximately 15 officials preventing entry to my home,” Cipriani said.
The Spanish MEP Hermann Tertsch said to The National that the delegation did not receive legal support for the procedure from the agents stationed at the perimeter, and that it interpreted the police cordon as a reaction to the progress of the process of political change in the country.
“That it could not be accessed. Without further explanations (…) They are the totalitarian blows of a regime that is dying,” said Tertsch when evaluating the prohibition of direct contact with the Venezuelan lawyer.
Lack of judicial prohibition and pending medical requirements
Cipriani stressed that the visit of the members of the European Parliament It was part of an agenda agreed upon in advance and he recalled that since the beginning of the precautionary measure in February, the family home has regularly received ambassadors, representatives of non-governmental organizations and relatives without legal problems.
He added that the defense attorney Omar Mora Tosta received direct confirmation from the judge in the case regarding the absence of impediments to receiving visits.
“The judge personally told Dr. Mora Tosta, Perkins’ lawyer, that there was no prohibition on visits,” Cipriani said.
He warned that the constitutionalist has neglected health needs since his departure from El Helicoide: “From day one of his house arrest, he requires specialized medical evaluation and dental treatments,” he said.
Regarding the political impact of the restrictions on visits to Tocha, the wife indicated that they will continue to denounce the arbitrariness before national and international bodies and trusted that the president of the 2015 National Assembly, Dinorah Figuera —who visited the residence on Wednesday after a first police blockade— will present the case at the negotiation table with representatives of the interim government.
“Deputy Figuera has already publicly expressed her rejection of these actions and I have no doubt that she will raise it at the dialogue table,” said Cipriani.
Balance of the European mission and support for the political transition
Beyond the blockade registered at the doors of Rocha’s home, Hermann Tertsch explained that the presence of the parliamentary delegation in Caracas responds to the purpose of supporting the process of democratic transition in Venezuelaruling out any agenda of meetings with representatives of the government in charge.
“We are parliamentarians who have come to Venezuela to give our support to the transition towards democracy managed by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and marked by the indisputable leadership of María Corina Machado, a friend of us and our president, Santiago Abascal,” declared the Spanish MEP.
By offering a general assessment of the meetings in the Venezuelan capital with political and civil society actors, Tertsch conveyed a favorable assessment of the course of events and outlined the role that in his opinion Brussels should assume in the short term.
“The political transition towards democracy and freedom in Venezuela is irreversible; it closes the black page of Chavismo and opens an immensely promising new era. The European Union must stop supporting leftist forces on the continent and, of course, support the transition in Venezuela,” said the parliamentarian.
He indicated that although the mission does not prepare a report for the European Parliament, it will convey its optimistic impressions to European bodies.
