Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s government has intensified its use of the “harshest and most violent” tools of repression in Venezuela in the wake of a disputed election in July, United Nations human rights experts said following a fact-finding mission.
“Taken as a whole, [these actions] constitute the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds,” the report reads.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council declared Maduro, the socialist incumbent, the winner of the July 28 presidential election, despite evidence suggesting that he had lost in a landslide to opposition candidate Edmundo González, who has now gone into exile in Spain.
The opposition obtained voting tallies that suggested that González had won 73 percent of the accessible votes, twice as many as Maduro had received.
‘Intensification of State’s Repressive Machinery’
Marta Valiñas, a Portuguese lawyer and human rights expert and chair of the fact-finding mission, said: “We are witnessing an intensification of the state’s repressive machinery in response to what it perceives as critical views, opposition or dissent.“Although this is a continuation of previous patterns, that the mission has already characterized as crimes against humanity, the recent repression, due to its intensity and systematic nature, represents a very serious attack on the fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people, committed despite several calls both inside and outside the country to respect human rights.”
In the wake of Maduro being declared winner of the election, thousands of demonstrators protested against the regime on the streets of the capital of Caracas and in other cities.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful, but some activists toppled statues of Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and burned police motorcycles.
The Venezuelan security forces and pro-government militias reacted violently.
According to the report, Venezuela’s attorney general said that 25 people had been killed during the protests on July 29 and 30.
The attorney general’s office investigated those deaths and issued its own report finding there was “circumstantial evidence” that the protesters were killed by the security forces or by pro-government vigilantes.
The fact-finding mission’s report states: “The mission documented that armed civilians were present and shooting during several protests, either interacting with the security forces or acting alone. In several of the cases investigated, members of the Bolivarian National Guard or the Bolivarian National Police used their firearms to repress protesters.”
It also accuses the government of carrying out at least 39 “arbitrary detentions,” consisting of 32 men and seven women who were “real or perceived opponents of the government,” following the July 28 election.
“In most of the cases investigated, the detentions involved or were followed by serious and systematic violations of due process,” the report reads.
The mission’s findings echo concerns outlined by the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and several human rights groups.
Courts an ‘Instrument’ of Repression
It said the courts were used as a “key instrument in its plan to repress all forms of political and social opposition.”
The fact-finding mission said its members compiled the report through interviews with 383 people and reviews of court case files and other documents.
The apparent actual winner of the election, 75-year-old González, is wanted by the Venezuelan authorities on charges of conspiracy and other crimes.
He fled to Spain on Sept. 8, and last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on social media platform X, “I give a warm welcome in our country to Edmundo Gonzalez, whom we receive showing him Spain’s humanitarian commitment and solidarity with Venezuelans.”
The U.S. government has denied involvement in any such plot.
