They see a high risk of disintegration of the rule of law in Venezuela

GENEVA (EFE).— The UN Fact-Finding Mission in Venezuela warned yesterday that the risk of the rule of law breaking down 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.

“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 the 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, at the Human Rights Council.

The Mission presented its latest report yesterday, in which it notes that the recent human rights abuses it has been able to document – such as arbitrary detentions, torture and sexual violence – are a continuation of violations it had previously considered to constitute crimes against humanity.

Marta Valiñas pointed out that during the electoral campaign, between 4 and 25 July, the Mission documented up to 121 arrests of people who were arrested simply for having provided some service in the opposition’s 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.”

Despite government warnings about the potential for violence if Maduro did not win the election, there were 915 protests across the country between July 29 and 31, with 25 confirmed deaths, with one exception from gunshot wounds, the report said.

“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,” it said.

The Mission’s president indicated that “a series of torture methods used by security forces or intelligence services were identified, such as punches, beatings with wooden planks or bats wrapped in foam, and electric shocks, asphyxiation with plastic bags.”