In a new reportthe Human Rights Council-authorized investigators described how security forces had searched dozens of homes of suspected government critics “just using social media videos as the only evidence to arrest people”.
Violence and threats
Victim testimonies collected on both sides of the disputed July 28 presidential election, which brought Maduro to power for a third time, pointed to “one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history“, the Independent international fact-finding mission further maintained over Venezuela.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Marta Valiñas, chair of the study, stressed that the latest findings were “overwhelming”: not only are there no improvements, but the violations have intensified and reached unprecedented levels of violence“.
The independent human rights expert described “an intensification of the state’s repressive apparatus” against his critics, which amounted to “a continuation of previous patterns” that the independent human rights panel had already condemned as likely crimes against humanity.
After the re-election of Mr Maduro – whose victory announcement sparked widespread protests across Venezuela – Ms Valiñas said the investigation had confirmed 25 deaths.
Gruesome findings
Most of the victims were “young people under 30 from popular neighborhoods. There are two children among them,” she said. One of the deceased was a member of the Bolivarian National Guard, Ms. Valiñas noted, before adding that 24 “died from gunshot wounds (and) the other was beaten to death”.
The latest report from the fact-finding mission examines the human rights situation in Venezuela between September 2023 and August 2024. It points to a further deterioration in the rule of law following the presidential elections, while state authorities have “abandoned any semblance of independence”, leaving citizens “helpless” in the face of the “arbitrary exercise” of power.
“We have documented more than 40 cases in which security forces entered private homes without a search warrant, using only social media videos as evidence to arrest people they believed had participated in protests or had expressed criticism on social media,” said Francisco Cox Vial, a member of the fact-finding mission established by the Human Rights Council in 2019.
Children among those arrested
According to independent investigators, more than 120 people were arrested in July in connection with opposition campaign events. In the first week of protests after the election, more than 2,000 people were detained, according to figures released by the authorities.
The suspects included more than 100 children, some of them with disabilities, who were accused of terrorism, incitement to hatred and serious violations of the rule of law, the investigators said.
“Of the people detained during this period, many were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as sexual violence committed against women and girls, but also against men “There have been reported cases of electric shocks, blows with blunt objects, suffocation with plastic bags, immersion in cold water and forced sleep deprivation,” said Patricia Tappatá Valdez, a member of the fact-finding mission.
“We have been able to verify that at least 143 of these arrests concerned members of seven opposition parties, including 66 leaders of political movements,” she noted.
According to the rights investigation, at least 48 people were detained from December 2023 to March 2024 on “so-called conspiracy theories” against the government, with arrest warrants for others. The individuals included military personnel, human rights defenders, journalists and representatives of the political opposition, the fact-finding mission said.
“We cannot ignore that these violations represent a clear and deliberate course of politically motivated persecution by the authorities,” said Mr. Cox Vial. “We have concluded that many of these allegations amount to crimes against humanity.”
