UN human rights experts complain of intensification of repression in Venezuela after controversial election result

GENEVA (AP) — Independent UN human rights experts said in a new report Tuesday that their findings showed Venezuela’s government has intensified the use of “the toughest and most violent” means the repression following the controversial presidential election in July.

The official results of the July 28 election were widely criticized as undemocratic, opaque and aimed at President Nicolas Maduro in power.

In its report, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed commission of inquiry into Venezuela denounced human rights violations by the country’s security forces. These include arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence. “Taken as a whole, these violations constitute a crime against humanity, namely persecution for political reasons.”

“During the period covered by this report, and especially after the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, the state reactivated and intensified the harshest and most violent mechanisms of its repressive apparatus,” the Experts in the report, which covers a period of one year until August 31st.

The results reflect the concerns of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. US Secretary of State Antony BlinkenHuman Rights Watch and others on Venezuela and its democracy, including Repression before and after the eagerly awaited election and the subsequent flight in Exile of Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, dominated by Maduro supporters, said he had won with 52 percent of the vote. But opposition supporters collected vote tallies from 80 percent of the country’s electronic voting machines and said that showed González had won the election – with twice as many votes as Maduro.

Global criticism of the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s Supreme Court, whose members are close to the ruling party, to review the results. The Supreme Court confirmed his victory.

The independent experts, who do not represent the United Nations, condemned the government’s efforts to suppress peaceful resistance to its rule.

The judicial system – led by the Supreme Court – is “clearly subordinate to the interests of Maduro and his close allies” and serves as a “key instrument in their plan to suppress all forms of political and social opposition,” they wrote.

In the hours after Maduro was declared the winner, took to the streets across VenezuelaThe protests were largely peaceful, but demonstrators toppled statues of Maduro’s predecessorthe late Hugo Chávez, threw stones at police officers and buildings and burned police motorcycles and government propaganda.

Maduro’s government responded harshly to the demonstrations, carrying out arbitrary arrests and prosecutions and launching a campaign calling on the population to report relatives, neighbors and other acquaintances who took part in the protests or who questioned the outcome of the protests.

The independent experts said they compiled the report by interviewing 383 people and examining court records and other documents, but acknowledged that their ability to gather information in the post-election period was limited.

The experts said their requests for information to the Venezuelan authorities had been “ignored”, despite requests for cooperation from the Human Rights Council, which is made up of rotating members from 47 UN member states.

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Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.