Venezuela’s security forces and pro-government armed groups committed widespread abuses after a disputed presidential election in July, an international rights group has said.
The National Guard, police forces and armed groups known as “colectivos” killed 23 protesters. opposition As a result of July 28 electionHuman Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on the post-election crackdown on Wednesday.
Thousands of people, including minors, took to the streets in Venezuela, loyal to the governing party, hours after election authorities declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of an election that the opposition said was rigged.
Maduro and his United Socialist Party allies responded with full force, carrying out arbitrary detentions, prosecutions and a campaign — called Operation Tun Tun or Operation Nok Nok — encouraging people to report relatives, neighbors and other acquaintances who participated in protests or suspected expresses. On the results.
“The repression we’re seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal,” said Juanita Goeberts, Americas director at HRW. “The governments concerned need to take immediate action to ensure that people can protest peacefully and that their votes are respected.”
The group said it had received “credible” evidence of the killing of 23 protesters and one member of the Bolivarian National Guard from “independent local groups”, including Foro Panel, Justicia Encuentro y Perdon, Monitor de Victimas and Provea.
Most of the killings took place on 29 and 30 July.
Eleven cases were “independently documented” by HRW, which said it reviewed death certificates, verified videos and photographs, and conducted interviews with 20 witnesses and local sources. He consulted forensic pathologists and weapons experts, who analyzed the injuries and weapons he saw and heard.
Among the killings detailed in the report was civil engineer and food truck worker Rance Daniel Yazara Bolivar, who was shot in the chest.
The report also includes details of mass arrests during protests. Venezuelan authorities have said more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29, including children, journalists, political leaders, campaign workers and lawyers defending protesters. A local activist live-streamed her arrest by military intelligence officers as they broke into her home with crowbars.
The local group Foro Panel reported that 114 children were arrested. At least 86 children have been released, some subject to periodic court appearances.
HRW said those arrested were often held incommunicado for weeks and most were denied the right to a lawyer.
Global condemnation
The National Electoral Council announced that Maduro had been re-elected to a third six-year term, declining to disclose the number of votes that supported his victory.
But the main opposition coalition received more than 80 percent of the vote from electronic voting machines and said its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, defeated Maduro by a 2-to-1 margin.
A lack of transparency in the results, along with arrests following anti-government protests, has led to global condemnation of Maduro and his allies. Criticism mounted Monday after a judge granted the prosecutor’s request Arrest warrant For Gonzalez.
The United States, the European Union and some Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory without seeing a detailed breakdown of the votes.
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