An International Fact-Finding Mission looked into human rights violations in Venezuela and has presented its fourth report to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Although since 2020, human rights abuses and violations seem to have been reduced, the Mission, presided over by Marta Valiñas, emphasized that these are still going on, just with more selective mechanisms; the regime does not seem to be interested in correcting this policy.
The report was presented at a press conference a few days ago, and later, on Monday, September 25, the Mission met with the UN Human Rights Council for an interactive dialogue. According to the data presented, serious human rights violations continue to be committed in Venezuela.
Serious #humanrights violations continue to be committed in #Venezuela, according to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on this country.
These violations are not isolated "but reflect a policy of repression of dissent and opposition to the Government".#HRC54 pic.twitter.com/WkvFhPa4b9
— United Nations Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) September 25, 2023
Bans and interventions
Valiñas said that selective repression has been applied against political and social leaders in anticipation of the 2024 presidential elections. She also expressed concern about the political banning of presidential pre-candidates, among them pre-candidate María Corina Machado, who was the favorite according to the polls.
This is not the first time that the government has used this tactic, in the past other candidates have been banned, such as Leopoldo López before his imprisonment. These actions join the judicial interventions of political parties and criminal convictions of union leaders.
Murders, torture and repression
The report collected information between 2020 and 2023 and was carried out with four dialogues and 254 interviews involving 299 people. Given the impossibility of visiting Venezuela due to the regime’s refusal, these interviews were conducted through phone calls, video calls or messaging.
The report documents at least nine deaths of civil society and opposition leaders, related to repressive practices, such as those of two journalists murdered in 2022 in Zulia and Sucre, and the death of Junior Chaparro, a member of the Kariña indigenous people, who was found buried in the forest with seven bullets in his body.
Deaths in custody have also been reported. Mission members said they had “reasons to believe that they were a direct consequence of the denial of adequate medical attention.” These include the death of a member of the Pemón indigenous people Salvador Franco in El Rodeo II prison and the death of General Raúl Isaías Baduel in El Helicoide.
Likewise, “the illegal practice of taking detainees to clandestine houses before bringing them to an official detention center continued.” The document notes 14 cases of forced disappearances. The four women and 10 men were in unknown whereabouts for between several hours and 10 days.
The cases of torture documented in the report include “beatings… suspension by the wrists or ankles; asphyxiation with bags over the head, sometimes sprayed with insecticide; exposure to low temperatures; cigarette burns and sleep deprivation,” inflicted on 22 men and six women.
These actions “were intended to punish the detainees for their union or human rights activities,” says the report, which also adds 58 arbitrary detentions, in some cases against family members of suspects, a practice used to intimidate.
The document, which includes among the arbitrary detentions members of NGOs, union leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and members of opposition parties, included 19 cases of gender and sexual violence.
"The fundamental pillars of civic and democratic space have been severely restricted in #Venezuela," said Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-finding Mission on this country.
The Fact-finding Mission presented its latest report to the @UN Human Rights Council.#HRC54 pic.twitter.com/2qEfJdzwt4
— United Nations Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) September 25, 2023
Same tactics
The UN report underlines that the former Special Action Forces (FAES) of the Police, accused of extrajudicial executions and other human rights abuses, were disbanded in 2022. Despite this, part of the structure has been inherited by the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions (DAET).
This means that the government’s repressive actions have not been dismantled. Instead, restrictions on individual and collective freedoms, harassment, threats and censorship continue and are used to silence the opposition.
The mission said that the panorama is alarming, especially in view of the 2024 presidential elections where there are already banned candidates. For this reason, they urged the international community to take concrete measures to ensure political responsibility and prevent further systematic human rights violations.
The opposition’s response
The Venezuelan opposition group, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), insist that this report exposes the persistence of practices of abuse of power against the people by the government of Nicolás Maduro.
The spokespersons mentioned that the selective attack seeks to create false ideas about stopping the abuses. However, they pointed out that these are not isolated cases, but rather a continuing “state policy to repress dissent.”
The government’s response
During Monday’s session, 45 countries intervened, many of them demanded the release of political prisoners, free elections and an end to repression, however, countries such as Zimbabwe, China and Russia spoke in favor of the Venezuelan government. On the other hand, the representative of Venezuela left the session after the cases of torture, arbitrary detentions and other human rights violations were mentioned.
After the introduction of the document, Maduro’s government described the members of the mission as “paid mercenaries” and rejected the report. Through a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said that the accusations are false and are part of an international interest to tarnish Venezuela’s image.
Image: Rufino