Bárbara César Siero, former judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, denounced this Tuesday that she was coerced to sign several sentences of political disqualifications, among them that of María Corina Machado, who was prevented from being a presidential candidate in the 2024 elections.
Through a video and a letter published on his social networks, César Siero reported that on December 15, 2023, Machado filed his claim before the TSJ to that the disqualification measure imposed on him by the Comptroller’s Office years before be reviewed.
“Parallel to that fact, that same day my two brothers, Lieutenant Colonel Guillermo Enrique César Siero, Major Guillermo Henry César Siero, and my sister-in-law Major Diana Desirée Victoria Justo, were arbitrarily detained by officials of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence,” he added.
The judge did not know the place of confinement of her relatives, she had no communication with them and said she was unaware of the crimes they were accused of.
“From there, my three relatives were used to coerce me as a magistrate and vice president of the Political-Administrative Chamber of the TSJ, since he was competent to decide on the political destiny of the candidates,” he stressed.
Likewise, he said that not knowing the whereabouts of his brothers and sister-in-law and fearing for their lives, decided to sign several sentences on political disqualifications, among them that of Machado, who had won the opposition primaries in October 2023.
On January 22, 2024, César Siero continued, the then attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, involved his relatives in the so-called White Bracelet operation, an alleged assassination plan against Nicolás Maduro in which the activist Rocío San Miguel, acquitted of the case last week, was also linked.
“It was a narrative constructed to criminalize them and pressure me, for being competent to hear the demands of a political nature and at the same time send a subliminal message to the judges and members of the FANB,” said the former judge.
César Siero too She reported that she was forced to resign from her position as a TSJ judge on two occasions.
Last June, the former magistrate indicated, her sister-in-law and her brother Guillermo Henry César Siero, were released with precautionary measures along with another group of soldiers involved in the same case.
On Thursday, His brothers and sister-in-law were sentenced to between three and twelve years in prison for the crimes of political conspiracy and cover-up.
César Siero held the Venezuelan State and the Dgcim officials responsible for any “attack, threat, persecution, harassment, reprisal or damage to the integrity” against him or other family members.
