UN Mission to Venezuela confirms crimes against humanity committed by the Maduro regime

A report by the Fact-Finding Mission created by the UN Human Rights Council to document violations occurring in the country confirmed that the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro has committed crimes against humanity.

"The documented violations and crimes, including the crime against humanity of politically motivated persecutionare not isolated or random acts, but part of an ongoing and coordinated plan to silence, discourage and repress opposition to the government of President Nicolas Maduro," said the report released Tuesday.

Similarly, Marta Valiñas, president of the Fact-Finding Mission, explained that the State's repressive apparatus has intensified in response to pereived criticism, opposition and dissent.

"Although this is a continuation of previous patterns that the mission has already characterized as crimes against humanity, the recent repression, due to its intensity and systematic character, represents a very serious attack on the fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people, committed despite multiple calls inside and outside the country to respect human rights," Valiñas said.

"The report also recorded an intensification of harassment, criminalization, and other restrictions on the work of key civil society actors, including human rights organizations and journalists."

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The report, which examines the human rights situation in the country between September 2023 and August 2024, highlighted that there has been a new turning point in the deterioration of the rule of law following the presidential elections in July.

"Public authorities have abandoned all semblance of independence and, in practice, many judicial guarantees have lost their effectiveness, leaving the citizenry helpless against the arbitrary exercise of power," the document noted.