On 12 January, Officers of the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence in Maracaibo (DGCIM) detained staff members from Azul Positivo, a medical and humanitarian NGO in Zulia (Western Venezuela). Johan León Reyes, Yordy Bermúdez, Layners Gutiérrez Díaz, Alejandro Gómez Di Maggio and Luis Ferrabuz, have been charged with financial crimes and ‘association to commit crimes’. Amnesty International considers their detention and prosecution to be solely based on the humanitarian work carried out by the NGO they work for, Azul Positivo. They are prisoners of conscience and they must be released immediately and unconditionally.
