A United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission has found that the grave violations by the Maduro Regime in Venezuela “amounted to crimes against humanity.” The analysis cited evidence of unlawful executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture in the country since 2014. Further, Senior military and ministerial figures were likely aware of the crimes.
The Mission’s report notes that “They gave orders, coordinated activities and supplied resources in furtherance of the plans and policies under which the crimes were committed…President Nicolas Maduro also likely side-tracked the chain of command to ensure the commission of crimes.”
“We have reasonable grounds to believe that the President Maduro did give orders … as to who to target”, said investigator Francisco Cox. “After that, these people were surveilled, information was gathered, their communications were intercepted and finally they would be detained without judicial order…”
The Mission’s work was carried out without the cooperation of the Venezuelan Government, despite official requests. The facts were presented in a 411-page report covering more than 220 cases.
The patterns of violations included politically motivated detention and torture by State intelligence agencies, and an increasingly violent response to mass opposition protests. Alleged violations included the killing of 36 protesters, as well as torture in detention, including beatings and humiliation, sexual and gender-based violence and mock executions. State authorities had also failed to intervene in several cases where protesters were killed by armed civilian groups known as “colectivos” tied to Maduro’s hard-left government.
These offenses did not occur in a vacuum. The Report stresses that they were “part of a widespread and systematic course of conduct, thus amounting to crimes against humanity.”
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Even conservative estimates suggest that Venezuela has one of Latin America’s highest rates of killings by State agents, the report noted. As part of their work, the investigators examined 16 police, military or joint operations that resulted in 53 extrajudicial executions. They also reviewed 2,552 more incidents involving 5,094 killings by security forces, not all of which were arbitrary.
The Maduro regime, which is not considered a legitimate government by the U.S., typically sent hundreds of armed officers into an area, sometimes using armored vehicles and helicopters. In the Santa Rosa de Agua area of Maracaibo, Zulia State, in September 2015, an operation left five men dead and more than 60 detained. The investigators found that “Most of them (were) fishermen returning from work; women were mistreated and household items looted.”
The U.N. group said that it was common practice to cover up killings. This was done by planting weapons to simulate alleged confrontations. Officers were given a “green light to kill.” Investigator Marta Valinas added that these extrajudicial executions were not the result of rogue elements within the security forces. “High-ranking officials had effective command and control over the perpetrators and knowledge of their actions but failed to prevent or repress the violations”, she said. “The killings appear part of a policy to eliminate unwanted members of society under the cover of combating crime.”
Under the Trump Administration, The U.S. State Department has noted that “Nicolas Maduro…has consistently violated the human rights and dignity of its citizens, plundered the country’s natural resources, and driven a once prosperous nation into economic ruin with his authoritarian rule and socialist economic policies. Maduro’s thugs have engaged in extra-judicial killings and torture, taken political prisoners, and severely restricted freedom of speech, all in a brutal effort to retain power.”
Picture: Protest march in Venezuela (Pixabay)