“The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela is committing the crime against humanity of politically motivated persecution,” said on Tuesday the Fact-Finding Mission created by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN) to document the violations that occur in the country.
According to the Mission, headed by Portuguese jurist Marta Valiñas, the government apparatus is now focused on crushing the entire peaceful opposition through a series of actions that are not “isolated or random, but part of a continuous and coordinated plan to silence, discourage and repress” those who may express any thought that does not conform to official rhetoric.
“We are witnessing an intensification of the State’s repressive apparatus (…) Although this is a continuation of previous patterns, the recent repression, due to its intensity and systematic nature, represents a very serious attack on the fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people,” said Valiñas when presenting to the press in Geneva the latest report prepared by his team.
The Mission, which also includes Chilean lawyer Francisco Cox and Argentine human rights expert Patricia Tappatá, supported by a technical team, will officially present its report to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday.
Conclusions
Among the facts and conclusions that stand out is that the current crisis in Venezuela “is the worst in recent history” and that “a new milestone has been reached in the deterioration of the rule of law” following the presidential elections of July 28.
For the members of the Mission, public authorities no longer even attempt to pretend a certain independence and citizens are completely defenseless against arbitrariness because many judicial guarantees have lost their effectiveness.
The report, which initially covered the period between September 1, 2023, and August 31, has been updated to cover events leading up to and following the election.
Among the documented cases are 48 arrests between December and March of this year on charges of conspiracy, as well as arrest warrants against other people, who are not only activists, journalists or political opponents, but also military personnel.
Arrested
In July, during the electoral campaign, 120 people were arrested, although another 2,000 people suffered the same fate after the vote count, according to data from the authorities themselves, who accused them of terrorism and inciting hatred.
According to the Mission, among the latter there were at least a hundred minors, some with disabilities.
“The Mission had already warned that the government could activate its repressive apparatus at will, and that is what we are seeing now,” said Cox, who insisted on the climate of terror that the population is experiencing.
Geneva / EFE
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2024-09-20 12:50:26
