Venezuela’s Catholic Church has called on the Government to respond to students on hunger strike, who are demanding the release of 27 colleagues, arrested in connection with anti-government protests more than a year ago. There are reports from detention centres of inhumane conditions and suicide attempts.
On Monday, Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Mérida met 17 students on hunger strike outside a Catholic church and accepted a letter asking the Church to mediate between protesters and Government. The letter highlighted that hunger strikes are being conducted by young people and adults in 12 of Venezuela’s 23 states, putting pressure on the Government to release political prisoners. Humanitarian groups, including the Red Cross, have not been allowed access to the prisoners.
Five days earlier Bishop Rafael Ramón Conde Alfonzo of Maracay, met with university students who have been on hunger strike since early June, and assured them of “our prayerful support”. The young people arrived at the archbishop’s office in ambulances and under medical supervision. Upon their arrival there was a press conference, during which Bishop Conde said, "I wanted to express my personal interest, and on behalf of the Church, and I also wanted to make clear that their action is legitimate, the right to protest is mentioned in the Constitution". He underlined that the Church has repeatedly called for the release of political prisoners, even though they are not recognised by the Government as such, and at the very least they are “entitled to a fair trial, as established by the Constitution”.
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