"UN Experts Warn of 'Unprecedented' Repression in Venezuela"

Unprecedented" repression including arbitrary use of power is plunging Venezuela into an acute human rights crisis, as Caracas steps up efforts to quash all opposition, a UN fact-finding mission said Tuesday.

Following President Nicolas Maduro's re-election in July, contested by opposition groups and part of the international community, protest demonstrations have left 27 people dead and 192 injured, while around 2,400 people have been arrested, official sources say.

The repression, which has reached "unprecedented levels of violence," is "orchestrated by the highest civilian and military levels of government, including President Maduro", mission chair Marta Valinas told a press conference in presenting its latest report.

"Some of the human rights violations we have investigated during this period are a continuation of (acts) that we have previously described as crimes against humanity," Valinas said.

"Venezuela's government has dramatically intensified efforts to crush all peaceful opposition to its rule, plunging the nation into one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history," the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission says in the report.

- 'Arbitrary exercise of power' - The expert mission, with which Caracas refuses to cooperate, charges that "the repressive response of the state" to the demonstrations since July "marked a new stage in the deterioration of the rule of law".

Valinas further detailed violations the report documented which "were not the result of isolated or random acts but were committed as part of a coordinated plan to silence, discourage and quash opposition to the government of President Maduro". "We are witnessing an intensification of the state's repressive machinery in response to what it perceives as critical views, opposition or dissent," she said.

In September 2019, the UN stepped up surveillance of the country after the UN Human Rights Council established the mission to probe "extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment since 2014". The mission's mandate has since been renewed twice, in 2020 and in 2022. The report found "the main public authorities abandoned all semblance of independence and openly deferred to the executive". 

"In practice, many judicial guarantees lost their effectiveness, leaving the citizenry helpless in the face of the arbitrary exercise of power." Between September last year and the end of last month, the panel conducted interviews remotely or in person with 383 people while examining dozens of case files and other documentary and audiovisual sources. 

Following the announcement of the election result, "the repression not only continued to focus on silencing members of the political opposition, but also took on a massive and indiscriminate character, targeting all those who expressed their rejection or demanded transparency" of the vote. The mission found that after the vote had taken place, "the system of harassment and violent repression against real or perceived opponents was reactivated in an intense and accelerated manner".

"Victims and a large part of the population are exposed to the arbitrary exercise of power, where arbitrary detention is systematically used, with serious violations of due process," said mission expert Francisco Cox. "The severity of the repression, the effort to demonstrate results through imprisonment, and the use of mistreatment and torture have instilled a climate of widespread fear among the population, further reducing civic space," added the mission's fact-finding expert Patricia Tappata. 

European Union countries have refused to recognise Maduro as the election winner, while Washington has recognised his rival Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who has claimed victory. Threatened with prison in his homeland, Urrutia has obtained asylum in Spain, where he fled a week ago.