Venezuela’s government has been involved in committing crimes against humanity. The United Nations-backed fact-finding Independent mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela investigated 223 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture, and is reviewing an additional 2,891 to corroborate patterns of violations and crimes. The UN mission found that the Venezuelan government, as well as other state agents and groups working with them, had committed “egregious violations.”
The report’s conclusions prove reasonable grounds to believe that Venezuelan authorities and security forces have since 2014 planned and executed serious human rights violations, some of which — including arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture — amount to crimes against humanity.
These crimes were coordinated and committed pursuant to State policies, with the knowledge or direct support of commanding officers and senior government officials.
Venezuela’s Maduro tightens grip on power, using coronavirus lockdown. Two Venezuelan security forces are responsible for nearly two-thirds of all extrajudicial killings – the Scientific, Criminal and Criminological Investigator Corps (CICPC) and the Special Action Forces (FAES) of the National Bolivarian Police (Luis Fernandez, Luis Karabin Virgüez).
According to the UN report, superiors would grant FAES officers a “green light to kill” and a FAES training video authenticated by the UN mission shows officers being encouraged to “kill criminals without compassion.” There was a common practice to cover up killings by planting weapons to simulate “confrontations”.
The FAES unit was created by President Nicolás Maduro after the 2017 anti-government protests. The unit, designated to fight crime, has been accused of multiple human rights abuses. The current FAES director, José Miguel Domínguez Ramírez, was appointed in May 2019.
Domínguez Ramírez has been named as an alleged member of the Continente colectivo by RunRun.es. He has also been sanctioned by the United States for suppressing dissent and stopping humanitarian aid from reaching Venezuela.
FAES manipulated the crime scene and evidence. They would plant arms and drugs and fire their weapons against the walls or in the air to suggest a confrontation and to show the victim had “resisted authority”. In many cases, FAES brought the victims to hospital even though they were already dead, apparently with the intention of manipulating the bodies and modifying the crime scene. In some cases, the authorities declared that the victims were criminals before the conclusion of a formal investigation.
The authorities classify the killings resulting from security operations as “resistance to authority”. The number of these deaths is unusually high.
Taking into account the profile of the victims, the modus operandi of the security operations, and the fact that FAES often maintains a presence in the communities after the operation ends, the authorities may be using FAES and other security forces as an instrument to instil fear in the population and to maintain social control.
The killings appear part of a policy to eliminate unwanted members of society under the cover of combating crime.
Venezuelan intelligence agencies, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the General Directorate of Military Counter-Intelligence (DGCIM) were allegedly involved in politically motivated repression and torture. SEBIN targeted political dissidents, human rights activists, and others perceived to be against the government. The DGCIM targeted military personnel and associated civilians allegedly involved in rebellions or coup attempts.
The detention centre in the SEBIN headquarters “Helicoide” is not tailored to meet gender-specific standards.
In this prison in the capital Caracas, where most inmates are detained for “political reasons,” overcrowding is so severe that prisoners are forced to take turns sleeping. They are not separated according to age, the gravity of their crimes or the stage of their investigation proceedings. Many cells lack access to bathrooms and clean water, obligating inmates to coexist with their own excrement and providing a breeding ground for disease.
Many were forced to shout slogans in favor of the Venezuelan government under the threat of violent punishment or prolonged detention.
In SEBIN’s prisons, different types of physical and psychological torture are employed without any mechanism of internal or external accountability.
Guards and other prisoners pressured women to exchange sex for “privileges” and/or protection. Several women also said they had no access to specialized medical care and that, unlike men, they were not always allowed to go to the patio of the gym. Women detained for political motives were often denied visits.
However, some victims were held outside of the official prison system. They were charged with spurious crimes and evidence were planted.
Chávez created SEBIN in 2010 to replace the previous intelligence police, known as the Intelligence and Preventive Services Directorate (Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención – DISIP). And despite the fact that it was a civilian intelligence body, he staffed it with members of the military from its inception. Many of its members consider themselves on the front line of the defense of the revolution, and are prepared to do government “dirty work” that violates legal restrictions. Gustavo Maj. Gen. Enrique González López, former Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace was appointed as a head of SEBIN in October, 2018.
Human rights violations in Venezuela are not restricted to state security forces. The government also relies on armed civilian groups (colectivos) who help to maintain public order. If authorities failed to intervene then protesters were killed by these groups.
“Colectivos” are pro-government, heavily armed groups that were organized with the help of Hezbollah operatives and which are patterned on the Popular Mobilization Forces (militias) organized by the IRGC Quds Force in Iraq.
Torture techniques included: stress positions; asphyxiation; beatings; electric shocks; cuts and mutilations; death threats; and psychological torture.
Dissidents were also subjected to sexual violence, including rape with body parts or objects and threats to rape either the detainee or the detainee’s loved ones, forced nudity, as well as beatings and electric shocks to the genitals. These acts of sexual violence also constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Over at least a decade, the Government and government-controlled institutions enforced laws and policies that have accelerated the erosion of the rule of law and the dismantlement of democratic institutions, including the National Assembly. These measures are aimed at neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing political opponents and people critical of the Government. This trend has accelerated since 2016, after the opposition won the majority of National Assembly seats, resulting in increased repression targeting the political opposition, and steadily reducing the already limited democratic space.
Such policies are accompanied by a public rhetoric, including by high-level authorities, that constantly discredits and attacks those who criticize or oppose the Government. The political opposition, human rights activists and journalists, among others, are frequently the targets of discourse labelling them as “traitors” and “destabilizing agents”. This rhetoric is widely disseminated through pro-government media.
Attacks against relatives of political opponents are part of the targeted repression. OHCHR documented an increasing number of arbitrary detention of relatives, particularly women, of alleged political opponents. Without access to lawyers, they are interrogated about the whereabouts of their relatives and, in some cases, are ill-treated and tortured. These detentions are carried out as a means to exert pressure on the alleged fugitive, but also as a punishment. Relatives are also victims of death threats, further harm to their families, surveillance, intimidation and harassment. Additionally, women are subjected to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and humiliation during visits in detention centres, security operations, and house raids.
lansinginstitute.org reported, the Cuban government has supplied Caracas with security and intelligence, deploying security personnel to protect Maduro and other members of the political elite, providing counterintelligence support to mitigate uprisings, and technical advisory to counter opposition and international efforts at regime change. Cuban spies, intelligence and political advisers, counterintelligence agents, and military trainers help suppress dissent within the armed forces and throughout society.
Last year lansinginstitute.org reported about signs that the security and intelligence cooperation was coordinated through the Cuba Cooperation and Liaison Group in Venezuela (GRUCE), closely working with the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM).
Reuters reported in January 2019 that private military contractors who do secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela to beef up security for President Nicolas Maduro in the face of U.S.-backed opposition protests. Reuter’s source claimed there was a Russian contingent in Venezuela. The contractors are associated with the so-called Wagner group whose members, mostly ex-service personnel, fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, CAR, Libya and intel support op in Belarus. There is reason to believe that Russian sec advisors in Venezuela would share experience of domestic opposition oppression and combating protest movement, including working with information sources in prisons.
