Venezuela: Christians face death-threats

As reported by Aciprensa on 24 April 2019, Colombian guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) have been marking the houses of Venezuelan opposition leaders and distributing leaflets with death-threats. The Catholic priest of the San Lucia church in Junin, Tachira State, has also been targeted and the church was marked with a cross and the initials "ELN", indicating it to be a "military target". Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "According to a report by Insight Crime on 11 March 2019, Venezuela has sought alliances with groups like the ELN (the largest Colombian guerrilla group after FARC) whose presence and influence has grown in Venezuela in the midst of the current institutional chaos. It is likely that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense are using ELN members to intimidate opposition voices and Christians who demand a return to the rule of law, the release of political prisoners and an end to the current repression."