The UN Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela said on Friday that The risk of the rule of law disintegrating in the country is “very high” following the worsening of the human rights situation and the reactivation of the government’s “repressive machinery” following the July 28 elections.
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“These violations are the result of a plan designed in advance and executed through different forms of repression: a plan to discourage, silence, and nullify political opposition and critical voices to the Government of President Maduro or those who demand transparency in the election results,” said the president of the Mission, Marta Valiñas, in the Human Rights Council.
The Mission presented its latest report to the Council on Friday, in which it notes that the recent human rights abuses it has been able to document – such as arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence – They are a continuation of the violations that were previously considered to constitute crimes against humanity.
Protest against the government of Nicolás Maduro in the state of Carabobo, on July 29, one day after the presidential elections.
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Valiñas said that during the electoral campaign, between July 4 and 25, the Mission documented up to 121 arrests of people who were arrested simply for having provided some service in opposition campaign events.
The arrests investigated by the UN team were arbitrary and in some cases “followed by acts of torture and short-term enforced disappearances.”
A series of torture methods used by security forces or intelligence services were identified, such as punches, beatings with wooden planks or bats.
Despite government warnings about the possibility of an outbreak of violence if Maduro did not win the elections, Between July 29 and 31, there were 915 protests across the country, in which 25 people have been confirmed dead, who – with one exception – died from gunshot wounds, according to the report.
“The Mission does not yet have sufficient evidence to attribute responsibility in these cases, but in several cases the presence of members of the National Guard or the National Police using their firearms to suppress protests has been documented,” said Valiñas.
The President of the Mission indicated that “a series of methods of torture used by the security forces or by the intelligence services were identified, such as punches, blows with wooden planks or bats wrapped in foam, and electric shocks, suffocation with plastic bags” among others.
Protests in Catia against the results of the presidential election.
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The jurist said that the international community “has a great responsibility to stop this persecution, to ensure that the violations and crimes that have been committed and continue to be committed do not go unpunished and to provide encouragement to the victims by ensuring that they can obtain justice.”
Ecuador, who spoke on behalf of Argentina, Chile, Canada, Paraguay, Guatemala, Uruguay and himself, He called on the Venezuelan government to stop the repression and deplored “the lack of independence of the National Electoral Council and the Supreme Court of Justice.”
She called for the treatment of detained minors in accordance with international standards, urged “impartial verification of the election results” and supported the Human Rights Council renewing the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela, which expires shortly.
Maria Corina Machado participates in the session of the Human Rights Council
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado also spoke online at the session that the Human Rights Council dedicated to Venezuela and in which the UN Fact-Finding Mission for this country presented its latest report.
In his speech, Machado stated that former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia left Venezuela because he was forced to do so, as he suffered “terrible harassment and threats to his life,” and He recalled that all those who had direct responsibility in defending the vote are today hidden, in exile, under asylum or in prison.”
Machado denounced the brutal repression undertaken by the government of Nicolás Maduro in order to “quench civic protest” and that to do so “they arrested hundreds of people (2,200 according to figures from the authorities themselves), including children whom they accused of terrorism.”
File photo taken on July 18, 2024 of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaking during an interview, in Caracas, Venezuela.
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The opposition leader asked the international community to support Venezuelans in ensuring that “the truth and popular sovereignty” expressed in the presidential elections are respected, which, she said, gave González Urrutia the victory.
He also asked countries to support Venezuelans who need asylum or the issuance of safe-conduct passes.
He also urged the Human Rights Council to renew for another year the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission, which monitors the human rights situation in Venezuela.
The reaction of Nicolás Maduro’s government to the UN report
In the session, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Alexander Yáñez, vehemently rejected the Mission’s allegations and claimed that the wave of post-election violence was generated “by the fascist right in Venezuela” that “employed criminal gangs to attack people and burn and destroy public institutions.”
The persistence of this shameful Mission is a clear example of the erratic direction that the institutions of the United Nations system are taking.
“These were not peaceful protests,” the diplomat said, calling on countries to reject the Mission’s report, which he described as a “grotesque written mockery.”
Through a statement, shared on Telegram by Foreign Minister Yván Gil, The Government also stated that the UN Mission document was drafted by an “illegitimate, politicized and ideologized” Mission to “follow orders” from Washington and “implement” a “US policy” against Venezuela.
“The persistence of this shameful Mission is a clear example of the erratic path that the institutions of the United Nations system are taking, increasingly losing sight of their functions, turning them into instruments of coercion and blackmail of sovereign peoples and governments,” he said.
Nicolás Maduro, during his television program ‘Con Maduro +’.
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He also explained that Venezuela had reported to the UN Human Rights Council and its High Commissioner the “assassination attempts” against Maduro and “other high-ranking officials,” but – the document continues – “unfortunately” the people who receive the complaints “seem to be more concerned about obtaining the approval of the United States” to “occupy positions in this international bureaucracy.”
The Government stated that the Mission “intends to turn the victims of fascism and the Venezuelan extremist right into victimizers,” ignoring “the actions” of the ‘comanditos’ – political organization groups of González Urrutia’s campaign – who – he said – “murdered 27 Venezuelans and caused damage to public facilities” during the protests.
Once again, the members of the deceptive Mission present biased, uncontestable information, based on anonymous testimonies.
The Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) of Venezuela, for its part, stated that the members of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission for the Caribbean nation They presented “biased” and “unverifiable” information without “details or evidence” that “allow for its review” in their latest report.
“Once again, the members of the deceptive Mission present biased, uncontestable information, based on anonymous testimonies, interpreted based on their prejudices and without details or evidence that allow for its review,” the MP said in a statement posted on Instagram.
The Prosecutor’s Office said that this report is designed to “fuel attacks against Venezuela.”
“In its distorted representation of the situation in the country, it also denies the numerous investigations, charges and accusations made by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against officials who have committed human rights violations, as well as the sentences handed down by the Judiciary against many of them,” he added.
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