Independent UN human rights experts said in a new report yesterday that their findings show Venezuela’s government has intensified the use of the “harshest and most violent” tools of repression following the disputed July 28 presidential election.
The official results have been widely criticized as undemocratic, opaque and aimed to keep Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in power.
In its report, the fact-finding mission on Venezuela, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, denounced rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence by the country’s security forces that “taken as a whole, constitute the crime against humanity of persecution on political grounds.”
Photo: AP
“During the period covered by this report, and especially after the presidential election of July 28, 2024, the state reactivated and intensified the harshest and most violent mechanisms of its repressive apparatus,” said the experts in the report, which covered a one-year period through Aug. 31.
The findings echo concerns from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Human Rights Watch and others about Venezuela and its democracy, including repression before and after the highly anticipated vote and the subsequent flight into exile of Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez.
Marta Valinas, head of the experts team, said that from July 29 to Aug. 6, Venezuelan authorities acknowledged they arrested more than 2,200 people.
“Of these, we have confirmed the arrest of at least 158 children — some with disabilities,” Valinas told reporters at a news conference yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, adding that some had been accused of serious crimes, such as terrorism.
“This phenomenon is something new and extremely worrying,” she said. “We are facing a systematic, coordinated and deliberate repression by the Venezuelan government which responds to a conscious plan to silence any form of dissent.”
The Venezuelan National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, said he won the election with 52 percent of the vote. However, opposition supporters collected tally sheets from 80 percent of the nation’s electronic voting machines, and said those indicated Gonzalez had won the election — with twice as many votes as Maduro.
The independent experts, who do not represent the UN, comprise a fact-finding mission created in 2019. They have been reporting on rights violations, including alleged crimes against humanity, under Maduro for years.
This report, the fifth of its kind, decried the government’s efforts to crush peaceful opposition to its rule.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College