Michelle Bachelet alerted the UN of a new repressive peak in Venezuela

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From July 2 to date, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet verified a wave of repressive acts in Venezuela that obscure pacification measures, such as 110 pardons for political prisoners, and the release of another 40. She denounced new violations before the Rights Council Human Rights of the UN in Geneva, generating a bitter debate, in which some Latin American countries expressed their opinion. Venezuela took note of Bachelet's " concerns ", to which " we will respond in due course.

The facts revealed by the former President of Chile mentioned the repression of peaceful protests in the context of the state of alarm in force since March, including the arrests of protesters protesting low wages and pensions, deficiencies in public services and gasoline shortage. The raids caused "the death of two protesters, allegedly committed by security forces, while not failing to state that the Public Ministry initiated investigations to clarify such facts.

In this regard, Bachelet approved the recent arrests and indictments of various members of the Special Action Forces (FAES), labeled as paramilitary groups under the protection of the State, by the UN human rights bodies that have requested their dissolution. The FAES are held responsible that after executing the victims already neutralized, the security forces steal them and manipulate the evidence, presenting what happened as the result of a confrontation.

At the same time, it attracted powerfully the attention that in the midst of the government's conversations with sectors of the opposition, facing the parliamentary elections in December to come, the 6 sent to Venezuela from Bachelet's headquarters in Geneva, to establish a permanent office in Caracas, have counted 711 deaths from June to August, reaching more than 2000 since January 2020, in the case of young people in marginalized neighborhoods, a tragic result of security operations.

Bachelet added restrictions on freedom of expression including the application of anti-hate legislation, attacks against humanitarian militants and attacks and arrests of journalists. He warned of his concern about the stigmatizing discourse of some authorities, which blame Venezuelan migrants who reintegrate into the country, for introducing Covid-19 when they return through irregular crossings. And he insisted that the government of President Maduro continue with the release of all the people who are still arbitrarily deprived of liberty for exercising their rights.

Meanwhile, for the political detainees who are still incarcerated, Bachelet demanded substantive improvements in their health conditions, access to water, food and medicine, and to guarantee regular contacts with family members and lawyers, either physically or by phone, as well as to explore measures alternatives to deprivation of liberty. He considered that the spread of the covid-19 aggravates the situation in detention centers, where "33% of the fatalities are health personnel, mainly due to the lack of biosafety equipment and water in hospitals. To this panorama it has been added to other pre-existing emergencies, such as food. She pointed out that the rate of acute child malnutrition reached 15% in July 2020 and that a greater number of families resort to survival strategies. 

In this context, Bachelet once again criticized the imposition of additional sanctions on diesel exports, which may worsen the already critical shortage of gasoline and hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid and essential goods." He then reiterated his call to lift economic sanctions to facilitate the allocation of resources during the pandemic.

Among the countries of the region, the considerations made by the members of the so-called Lima Group, made up of Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru stood out. They valued that the fundamental rights and freedoms of Venezuelans are violated on a daily basis. They said they had reasonable reasons to believe that crimes against humanity were committed, that is, as a result of a massive and systematic attack against the civilian population, which has caused around 6,000 deaths, a figure supported by various UN investigations. They stated that the forces of order commit… extrajudicial executions, temporary forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture. All with knowledge, the approval and guidance of the highest political levels. Uruguay, which essentially agreed with the previous expressions, concluded that there has been no sincere will of the Venezuelan Government to initiate a real dialogue or concrete actions that allow progress towards a return to the rule of law and full democracy in Venezuela.

Incredibly, the Venezuelan ambassador in Geneva, Jorge Valero, dismissed the criticism from the countries of the region that would have bulky files of serious human rights violations. He accused them of misrepresenting the truth of what really happens on the ground and accused the High Commissioner of obvious methodological flaws in her presentation, and the use of biased information that fuels the media campaign against Venezuela. The case will be arbitrated at the beginning of next October by the vote of the 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council, of which Venezuela is a part called upon to resolve whether or not the fact-finding mission on what happened in Venezuela from 2014 onwards, composed of three independent international experts.