Caracas, June 7 (IANS) Patricia Gutierrez, wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Daniel Ceballos, said the politician is “calm and very strong” and that since the beginning of his hunger strike on May 22, he has lost 13 kg.
“The strength of @Daniel_Ceballos is a miracle of God, he has lost 13 Kg (29 lbs) of weight,” Gutierrez said on her Twitter account.
The current mayor of the western city of San Cristobal said she was able to make the visit thanks to the mediation of the Ombud’s Office, and that also present to see Ceballos was one of the politician’s attorneys, his mother, a trusted doctor and a bioanalyst, Spanish news agency Efe reported on Saturday.
She complained, however, that “the Attorney General’s Office did NOT allow Daniel to be examined”.
She said her husband “sometimes feels pain in his right kidney when he urinates” and that the AG’s office took urine and blood samples and “will provide the results on Monday”.
Hours before, Lilian Tintori, wife of the also jailed Leopoldo Lopez, said in a press conference in Caracas that Patricia Gutierrez had to make an “emergency” trip to the town of San Juan de los Morros, 150 km from Venezuela’s capital Caracas, where Ceballos is being held.
“The health of our political prisoners who are on a hunger strike is in very delicate condition,” Tintori said.
Both Lopez and Ceballos have been on a hunger strike for two weeks, a fast they vow not to end until the government headed by President Nicolas Maduro agrees to a series of conditions.
The freeing of political prisoners, setting a date for the legislative elections that must be held this year, and the presence of international observers during the balloting are some of their demands.
The two political leaders have been behind bars since early 2014, accused of acts of violence that occurred during the anti-government protests in Venezuela in the first half of last year that left 43 people dead.
Lopez and Ceballos were both locked up in the military prison of Ramo Verde outside Caracas, until the latter was moved to the jail in San Juan de los Morros in the central state of Guarico.