CARACAS/GENEVA (Askume) –President Nicolas Maduro’s government has stepped up repressive tactics to suppress peaceful protests and retain power in the wake of Venezuela’s disputed July election, a United Nations report said Tuesday.
Election officials tallied votes for Maduro but did not reveal the total number, but the opposition said its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won by a landslide and the recount bore that out. More than 20 people were killed and 2,400 arrested during the protests.
A U.N. fact-finding mission interviewed hundreds of people remotely or in third countries because they were denied entry into Venezuela.
“We are facing systematic, coordinated and deliberate repression by the Venezuelan government, which has a conscious plan to suppress any form of dissent,” delegation leader Marta Vallinas told reporters in Geneva.
“The government has activated the entire state machinery, especially the judicial system, to suppress any dissent against its plans and maintain power at any cost.”
According to the investigation, 24 of the 25 deaths were caused by gunshot wounds, mostly to the neck. Arrests resulting from feared “no-knock” operations – which involve unexpected arrivals at the homes of government critics – often affect ordinary citizens in poor communities.
obedience to authority
Maduro’s government blames right-wing, foreign-backed “extremists” and “fascists” for the latest round of violence in the South American oil-producing country as it crushes protests against his more than a decade of rule.
Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to a statement from the UN mission, which said it had tried to contact them about the investigation but to no avail.
A UN report said the election was a bottom-up crackdown by Maduro, marking a new milestone in the deterioration of the rule of law in Venezuela.
“Key public authorities have abandoned all independence and openly surrendered to the executive branch,” the report said, adding that a climate of fear has developed.
According to the report, allegations of disappearances, torture and other brutal treatment have increased since 2019.
Opposition candidate González travelled to Spain and requested asylum after an arrest warrant was issued in Venezuela.
UN-mandated investigations are not legally binding, but the abuses they document are sometimes used in international courts.
