UN condemns Maduro’s use of torture and deadly force
‘The responsibility for the human rights violations we are recording lies with the highest level of government’
THE United Nations has accused Venezuela’s government of “widespread and systematic” use of excessive force in its bid to quell months of unrest, including deadly violence against protesters and the torture of detainees.
The allegation from the UN human rights agency comes as film, circulated online, appeared to show violent acts by security forces against protesters, including a purported execution.
The UN said its investigators had found evidence indicating that at least 76 people had been killed by the security forces or government-linked armed groups, known as colectivos, since protests began in April.
It reported officers firing gas canisters and buckshot at close range and pulling protesters from their houses in violent raids without warrants and quoted “reliable estimates” of more than 5,000 people detained by July 31, more than 1,000 of whom remain in custody.
In several cases of detainees examined by the team, there were credible reports of “cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment” often amounting to torture, including the use of electric shocks, beatings, suffocation with gas, and threats to kill or rape the individuals or their relatives.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN human rights commissioner, spoke of a “clear pattern” of excessive force, abuses of detainees and attacks on democratic institutions. “The responsibility for the human rights violations we are recording lies at the highest levels of government,” he said.
The report also blamed protesters for eight killings of security officers. Mr Al Hussein urged both sides to renounce violence in favour of dialogue.
Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has dismissed allegations of abuses as either isolated or the fabrications of enemies bent on sabotaging his government. But he has come down hard on what he calls “terrorist” violence on the part of opponents.
Yesterday, the government-stacked Supreme Court ordered the arrest of a mayor whose Caracas district has been convulsed by protests. Ramon Muchacho was sentenced to 15 months in prison for failing to remove barricades in Chacao, becoming the fourth mayor targeted by the court in recent weeks.
Mr Muchacho’s whereabouts is unclear, but in a social media post he condemned the ruling, lamenting that “all of the weight of the revolutionary injustice has fallen on my shoulders”.
Kelly Garcia – the wife of politician Wilmer Azuaje, who has been held for more than 100 days by Venezuelan intelligence on unspecified charges – told The Daily Telegraph that his detention resembled a kidnapping.
“My husband didn’t have an arrest warrant. He hasn’t appeared before a court. There aren’t records of him being held. He’s practically abducted,” she said, adding that his arrest was in breach of parliamentary immunity.
In Britain, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to condemn Mr Maduro but will now face added pressure after the UN report.
Last night, John Spellar MP, a former Labour Armed Forces minister, said: “This call from the UN human rights council makes it urgent and imperative that Jeremy Corbyn reconsiders and takes the side of the Venezuelan people.”
The UN report follows a two-month investigation involving 135 interviews with victims, witnesses, medical workers and lawyers, despite Venezuela’s government not granting access. The UN team said it also received information from the office of the Venezuelan attorney-general – until Saturday, a post occupied by Luisa Ortega Diaz, a former loyalist who split with Mr Maduro over human rights abuses.
Ms Ortega Diaz was fired by the new National Constituent Assembly (ANC), a controversial body empowered to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution in favour of Mr Maduro.