Nairobi Pinto, the Globovision journalist who had been missing for 8 days after being kidnapped by armed men last Sunday, re-appeared today apparently unharmed. Nairobi walked in to a Civil Protection outpost in the city of Cua, Miranda, where she was given a medical exam and was found to be in perfect health. Nairobi was released by her captors at around 1:00 AM this morning.
At a press conference this morning, Nairobi had this to say:
They treated me well. They never touched me, they never mistreated me, I ate three times a day, they never spoke in front of me. I never saw their faces because I always had my eyes closed.
Nairobi gave no other details regarding her ordeal.
Maria Corina Machado spoke today at the European Parliament at the request of the body’s Foreign Affairs Commission. Machado said:
We have received an invitation by the president of the Foreign Affairs Commission, Mr. Elmar Brok, and we will go to mainly talk before the international community about the human rights violations that happen in Venezuela (…) We will also let the world know how popular will and freedom of expression are not respected.
Here is a picture of Maria Corina seated at the meeting and ready to speak:
At the meeting, Maria Corina said:
[In Venezuela] the separation of powers does not exist, nor does the freedom of expression (…) What do we call a regime that murders, persecutes and censors media? It has a name, and it is “dictatorship”; [people who follow] democracy should call things by their name. Being here is evidence that we are not alone, and that fills us with a lot of strength.
(…)
I respect everyone who fights for democracy, and we demand that the regime stops the repression, that they stop using the National Guard to shoot rubber buckshot and tear gas against youths who are protesting peacefully. We also demand the release of political prisoners, the students, Leopoldo Lopez and the mayors Ceballos and Scarano.
On that last point by Maria Corina: the opposition and the government are going to meet again tomorrow, where the opposition is once again expected to call for an amnesty law to secure the release of political prisoners. The opposition is planning to present a letter written by Hugo Chavez in 1983, in which he demanded for an amnesty law while he was in jail. The opposition maintains that without the amnesty law, the dialogue between the two sides is nothing but “a show”.
And today, 30 PSUV officials were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to overthrow Nicolas Maduro. The detained allegedly include a colonel, a lieutenant colonel, two National Guard officers, and one from the Navy and Army, respectively.
Finally, this website contains 65 pictures of the demonstrations in Caracas this past Saturday.
In Venezuela 
Nairobi sweet talking about how nice her kidnappers were is just too suspicious, I do not buy it. It seems to me that it was a (the?) condition for her release. It is a known kidnappers modus operandi, in other words the kidnappers condition was “don’t you dare to identify us, or tell anything against us, or you (and your family) will pay the consequences”
Definitely. That’s what I thought when she said “I don’t know what they look like because my eyes were always closed”… gor a whole week. That’s what I would say too – “don’t come back for me, I didn’t see any of your faces, I swear!”
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