Repression in Venezuela is ‘brutal’ and there are reports of 24 murders after presidential elections, says HRW

The repression of protests in Venezuela following the presidential elections on July 28 has been “brutal,” according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), an organization that has received “credible reports” of 24 murders and has been able to independently verify eleven of them.

This was stated by the human rights organization in a document published this Tuesday in Bogotá in which it stated that they gave him “rcredible reports of 24 murders” in the context of protests, including a member of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).

The human rights organization said it received the reports by part of independent local organizationss, such as Foro Penal, Justicia Encuentro y Perdón, Monitor de Víctimas and Provea, or identified them on social networks.

In this regard, he assured that he documented “independently” 11 of these cases for which he reviewed death certificates, verified videos and photographs and also interviewed 20 peopleincluding witnesses and other local sources.

“Many relatives, witnesses and others who could provide information about the cases did not want to be interviewed for fear of government reprisals,” he said.

HRW pointed out that to make these documents “it analyzed and verified 39 videos and two photographs” of the protests found on various social networks or sent directly to the investigators by people close to the victims, local organizations and journalists.

HRW researchers confirmed the “exact locations where these videos were filmed; they analyzed shadows, weather patterns and dates of uploads to social media to determine the time at which the events occurred.”

They also consulted with forensic pathologists and weapons experts, who analyzed the victims’ wounds and the weapons identified in the videos and photographs.

Widespread rapes

According to Venezuelan authorities, more than 2,400 people have been arrested in the protests, while the Penal Forum, an NGO that provides pro bono assistance to those arbitrarily detained, recorded more than 1,580 “political prisoners”, detained since July 29, including 114 teenagers.

In that regard, HRW says, prosecutors have charged hundreds of people using offenses that are sometimes broadly defined and carry long sentences, such as “incitement to hatred,” ““resistance to authority” and “terrorism”.

In addition, HRW assured that the Venezuelan authorities violate human rights protesters, passersby and opposition leaders after the elections on July 28, in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) gave the victory to Nicolás Maduro, but the opposition claims victory.

“The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is brutal,” said the director of HRW’s Americas Division, referring to protests carried out mainly by the opposition against the election results.

HRW documented that in Venezuela the authorities and the ‘collectives’, armed civilians who support the Executive “have committed widespread abuses, including murderarbitrary arrests and criminal prosecutions, and harassment of government critics.”

EFE