United Nations (UN) investigators claim that Venezuela’s government, “state agents, and groups working with them” have committed gross human rights violations that amount to crimes against humanity. They posit that there is considerable evidence pointing to the fact that killings and torture were done at the behest of President Nicolás Maduro and others within his administration, who provide lists of targets to the national intelligence service, SEBIN.
Francisco Cox, one of the investigators, said that targets were surveilled, “their communicants were intercepted”, and then they were, in the best-case scenario, “detained without judicial order”. The panel further says that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that “the intelligence service falsified or planted evidence on victims, and that its agents tortured detainees”.
In fact, the report takes aim at the Scientific, Criminal and Criminological Investigator Corps (CICPC) and the Special Action Forces (FAES) of the National Bolivarian Police (PNB) for carrying out the orders of the Maduro government.
The investigators found that such tactics were particularly prevalent in the aftermath of the 2018 election, when Maduro maintained his incumbency under highly suspicious circumstances, drawing widespread protests and criticism.
Venezuela has responded strongly to the report, with its UN Ambassador, Jorge Valero, describing it as a “hostile initiative” that was undertaken due to US pressure. Likewise, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has described the Human Rights Council and the UN Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as “biased”.
The panel was established in 2014 by the Human Rights Council, but was not given access to the country. Thus, the 411-page report is based on interviews with over 270 “victims, witnesses, former officials and lawyers, and confidential documents” and found that military, police, and intelligence officers were all involved in extrajudicial killings. The panelists investigated 223 cases of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary and detentions, and torture. They reviewed a further 2,891 such cases to corroborate their findings that the government and its allies had committed “egregious violations”.
The chairperson of the International Fact-Finding Mission, Marta Valinas, said that the violations, “including arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture, amount to crimes against humanity”. Therefore, the report recommends that the International Criminal Court (ICC) consider prosecuting the officials involved as part of its investigation into the country which was launched in 2018.
Also Read: UN Report Takes Aim At Human Rights Abuses and Impunity in Venezuela
The report builds on the 15-page document submitted by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet in June. In it, she outlined how the justice system in the country has been “considerably undermined”, and how this has paved the way for ‘impunity’ and human rights violations, such as “deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, torture and sexual and gender-based violence involving members of the security forces”