um good. Aft. Uh, good morning, everyone.
Thank you all for joining us today for this, uh, press conference with the
independent International Fact finding mission on Venezuela.
Uh, joining us today are all three,
members of the commission in the middle of the chair.
uh, to her right? Is, uh, Mr Friend uh, cisco, Uh, Cox
And to my right is Patricia
Um, the mission will be sharing the findings of their latest report to you,
which they are currently scheduled to present
to the Human Rights Council on Friday.
the fact finding mission was established in 2019 by the Human Rights Council
mandated to investigate gross violations of human rights committed since 2014.
will make an opening statement followed by her colleagues,
and then we'll open the floor to questions.
Good morning. Distinguished members of the press and colleagues.
Today we present the fifth report of the independent International
Fact Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
which covers the period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August
during this period, we have observed a worsening of the human rights situation,
especially following the presidential elections of 28th of July.
The period covered by our report was marked by acts of repression
the period leading up to the presidential elections of 28th of July.
The massive protests that took place after
the National Electoral Council announced President Maduro's victory
and the violent response by security forces and
armed civilian groups aligned with the government,
all orchestrated by the highest civilian and military levels of the government,
including President Maduro.
Our findings are overwhelming.
Not only have there been no improvements,
but the violations have intensified, reaching unprecedented levels of violence.
we have documented 25 confirmed deaths,
most of them young people under 30 years old from popular neighbourhoods.
There are two Children among them.
One of the victims is a member of the Bolivarian National Guard.
Of these 25 victims, we have confirmed that 24 died from gunshot wounds,
the other was beaten to death.
The government claims that there are two more victims, one of whom,
another member of the Bolivarian National Guard,
apparently died in a traffic accident,
but the government has not shared any details
despite our formal written request for information.
Although we have initiated our investigations into these cases,
we do not yet have sufficient evidence to attribute responsibility for the deaths.
we can confirm the presence of security forces such as
the Bolivarian National Guard and the Bolivarian National Police,
sometimes accompanied by groups of armed civilians
who fired on demonstrators during the protests
Venezuelan authorities admitted to having arrested more than 2200 people.
Of these, we have confirmed the arrest of at least 100 and 58 Children,
and accused of serious crimes such as terrorism
and incitement to hatred.
This phenomenon is something new and extremely worrying.
We are facing a systematic co-ordinated
and deliberate repression by the Venezuelan government
which responds to a conscious plan
to silence any form of dissent.
As part of this plan, the government has instrumentals the entire state apparatus,
including especially the justice system,
with a view to silencing any type
of difference of opinion that opposes its scheme and to staying in power at any price
I would like to share more details on the systematic violation we have investigated
during the period between December 2023 and March 2024.
We have investigated 39 arrests
that we consider according to our standard of proof, to have been arbitrary.
The government invoked conspiracy to carry out this and another arrest
Excuse me, 48 people, including civilians and military personnel.
in the three weeks of the electoral campaign between 4th and 25 of July,
we documented the arrest of 121 people,
most of whom were arrested simply
for having participated or collaborated
in opposition campaign events.
The increase in repression after the elections was even more brutal,
as Marta already indicated.
In the week after the elections,
the number of people arrested exceeded
According to figures provided by the government itself.
We had been able to verify that at least 143 of these arrests
involved members of seven opposition parties,
including 66 leaders of political movements.
Politically, politically motivated persecution is evident.
These figures represent a level of repression
of the people detaining in this period. Many were subjected to torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,
as well as sexual violence
which was perpetrated against women and girls but also against men.
We reported electric shocks, beating with blunt objects,
suffocation with plastic bags,
immersion in cold water and forced sleep deprivation,
and we also reported touching of breast Botox and genitals,
forced nudity and invasive searches.
We further documented preliminary elements of what could be more than
25 short term enforced disappearances since
the announcement of the election result
previously since December 2023.
After a process of strict investigation and analysis,
we concluded that at least 15 short term forces disappearances took place.
The anguish and fears of families in this situation
We are also concerned about the increasingly intense closure of civic space.
Freedom of expression was severely limited
by attacks and judicial persecution against journalists,
social media influencers or anonymous people who simply share
critical opinions toward the government on their social networks.
We documented the arrest of at least 16 journalists and social communicators
legislative initiatives in this period
through a national assembly which is also
subordinated to the government restricted civic space.
In our report, we mentioned in particular
which places arbitrary limitations on the
autonomous functioning of civil society organisations,
especially human rights defenders.
This law, Excuse me was passed on 15 August
in the midst of the post election protests. We moreover, mentioned
which criminalise any political option different
from that of the government,
penal and administrative sanction for individuals,
media outlets, nongovernmental organisations and political parties.
We are deeply concerned about the safety of all
human rights defenders and that of their families.
Their voices are essential to ensure that violation continue to be documented
and that victims are not forgotten.
These figures represents only a small sample of the reality faced by
thousands of people in Venezuela today.
the figures we have presented revealed the extent of violations committed.
We cannot ignore that these violations were
present a clear and deliberate line of conduct
by the authorities of politically motivated persecution.
We have come to the conclusion that many
of these violations constitute crimes against humanity.
In previous reports, we had already documented how the government of Venezuela
systematic repression to remain in power.
we confirm that this repression has reached an unprecedented level.
President Maduro himself announced on
exactly 2229 arrests since 29 July.
This was the result of the so called Braz
which was announced in a mix of a mocking and threatening tone
following this presidential order,
without any attachment to legality or respect for the rule of law,
we documented more than 40 cases in which the security forces
entered private homes without warrants,
just using using social media videos as the only evidence
to arrest people who they thought had participated in protests
the houses in popular neighbourhoods of people
who participated in protest or expressed criticism
were even marked with an X,
as Patricia mentioned before,
we have documented that in several cases the detained people
were subject to acts of torture and ill treatment
as well as sexual violence.
President Maduro even suggested that all people should be
sent to labour camps to be re educated.
According to our investigations,
all these arrests involved and were followed by serious violations
reaching unprecedented levels in the country.
The criminal proceedings initiated against detainees
systematically failed to comply with the minimum
guarantees of due process.
The attorney general announced before the people
were arrested that they would be charged
with crimes as serious as terrorism and incitement to hatred,
even against Children with disabilities. As Martha mentioned,
we have ratified our previous conclusion that
the justice system and especially the criminal system
led by the Supreme Court,
its criminal appeal chamber and it's four terrorism courts
is manifestly subordinated to the interest of the executive power
and has become a key instrument in the state's plan to repress all kind of political
These courts are monopolising the
proceedings against detainees after the elections
who are not allowed to have lawyers of
their choice and tried in collected judicial proceedings
individualising charges against them,
which take place at night in detention centres
without effective public defenders,
without publicity and without being able to participate in the proceedings.
Victims and a large part of the general
population are exposed to an arbitrary exercise of power
where arbitrary detention is systematic,
systematically used together with
serious violations of due process.
We have previously warned that the government could
activate the repressive apparatus at will and indeed
that is what we are observing.
Repression and human rights violations are widespread and systematic,
and we must act urgently to protect victims and
ensure that those responsible are held into account.
Some of the human rights violations we have investigated
during this period represent a continuation of the same
course of conduct that we previously characterised as crimes against humanity.
These violations were not the result of isolated
but rather are part of a series of events committed
in implementation of a co ordinated plan to silence,
and suffocate the opposition to President Maduro's government.
Taking into account this course of conduct,
plan that we have mentioned
the profile of the victims
and the public statements issued by high ranking state representatives.
We have reasonable grounds to believe that
during the timeframe covered by our mandate
on political grounds has been committed in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Thank you. We look forward to answering questions from the press.
Let's take one question from the back.
If you could just please identify yourself and the media outlet that you work for.
Please go ahead. Thanks. Yes, thank you. I'm working for
would like to ask you two quick questions. The first question is about the EU top
who on Sunday called the Venezuelan government dictatorial.
So I wanted to ask you if you share the same analysis and why.
If you could explain, why does it matter
to qualify the Venezuelan government?
And a quick question I wanted to ask you if you have studied or
plan to look at the allegations concerning
the presence of the Russian mercenary group Wagner
last month during the elections. Thank you.
Thank you for your question.
We believe that, more importantly than qualifying politically, uh,
what this government is or is not is to document
what is happening in terms of facts on the ground.
And what we have been documenting is a violation of several
uh, human rights. Uh, of course, the the the ones mentioned in our mandate.
and we have given you an account
serious violations that have been committed,
including violations of the process,
violations to the right to life,
illegally imprisoned, Uh, not being subject to torture and so on.
that is the most important thing. That is what our mandate, uh, also tells us to do.
in Venezuela at the moment. And we have pointed out last year as well
fundamental civil and political rights, Uh, including the right to, um,
public decisions and in political life.
of course, includes the right to,
uh, be able to express your views to have a democratic dialogue.
Uh, all of this, I think, is what leads some
observers and some, um, important institutions and their representatives to,
uh, qualify the government, Uh, and as as a dictatorship.
But we really believe that.
Most importantly, our role is to document the facts rather than
mm. System uh uh, in Venezuela today,
Uh, I will leave to one of my colleagues to answer your second question.
we were in the process of documenting
so we had to shift a little bit the focus of our report
because of the events that were occurring after the elections.
uh, received information and documented and reported
that civilians are participating in parts of the repression
acquiescence or tolerance of
members of the security forces. Like the guard,
We don't We haven't not received information about the Wagner group.
on with the investigation.
But so far, we have not received information in that sense. Thank you.
uh, Jamie from the Associated Press. Did you have a question?
Yes. Thank you, IIII. I suspect my question is from Madam Valens.
just two questions that are kind of related.
we've seen some accusations in recent days from
the Venezuelan government about an assassination attempt.
Uh, they've arrested some people. Um
uh, do you have any sign that that is credible or in or not? credible.
Do you have you Have you been able to assess those, uh, allegations at all?
And, um, just more broadly, um,
you know, you you issue a number of recommendations in at the end of your report,
but what really can be done here?
I mean, we're talking about, uh uh uh uh,
uh A government that has been in power for a number of years.
an attempt of Western backed attempt to bring in
another president that didn't seem to go very far.
Um, what really can be done?
Um, what should the international community be doing?
And what should Venezuelans themselves be doing
to try to make sure that that
there's some sort of a change in government or a greater democracy in Venezuela?
Thank you for your question. In
relation to the recent allegations of an attempt to assassinate President Maduro,
we cannot really say anything.
First of all because our investigations for the report we are now publishing
were finished by the end of August, so it doesn't cover this period.
this type of allegations of
assassination attempts or conspiracies to
to overthrow the government to attack
government institutions to assassinate the president
In fact, we have seen several of those allegations of so called conspiracies.
And I'm saying so called because it is also
not part of our mandate as we understand it,
to investigate whether these are serious conspiracies or not.
What we can say and we have said in several
of our reports and in our most recent report again,
on the ground of these alleged conspiracies,
several human rights violations have been committed.
We in our current report, we,
only since December 2023 there have been, according to the authorities,
10 so called conspiracies which have led to the detention of at least 48 persons and
warrants of arrest being issued against another 15.
And this is only in the period between December 2023 and March 2024.
Now, we have investigated 25 of these cases,
80 of of these individuals that have been detained and 66 against whom
warrants of arrest were issued belong to
the opposition party of the candidate Maria Corina Machado.
What we have found is that
in these detentions, not only serious
guarantees serious violations of due process guarantees are committed.
Detentions are arbitrary.
the individuals being targeted include
as I just mentioned that are members
of political parties of the political opposition.
Uh, but also we've seen, um,
human rights defenders. Rocio
Miguel is one of them who has been detained
allegedly because of being, um,
according to the authorities linked to one of these conspiracies,
journalists and other members of civil society
and we find this extremely concerning,
um, So the use of the alleged conspiracies to actually
um, critical voices or those that are seen by the government as,
to to to their power. And And people who,
uh, they seen, uh, they see as opposing them.
So, um, we actually, uh I think, uh, are concerned with a new allegation of
another conspiracy or assassination attempt and what that may
mean in terms of further violations of human rights.
Well, I am just trying to say something because
there are many, many people
in many parts of the world asking
what really can be done about the Venezuela?
if you look around, there are many things that, for example, try to
the regime as a political regime, that is,
it puts very nervous to the authorities of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
is the right of the political
scientist to to say about what kind of political regime is,
The international denounce and the international condemnation of the regime,
uh, a tactic that many countries put in place
and the regime of the government
answer with the ironic sentences.
Because this is a very common way of
talking mock about the people,
the people who are suffering, also who are in prison
saying that they are guilty of horrible crimes, etcetera.
So, um, from my point of view, and
our view is is very difficult because the international scenario
the government showed that
is not a very big problem from them,
uh, hearing every day, this kind of qualification.
uh, perhaps, is a problem that they dedicate most of the
basically basically, insult all the people, all the citizens, all the countries,
including the in in the middle of all these insults.
And they make a lot of bloopers
and declaring, for example, that they are
leading the international fascist,
uh, order or something like that. So,
I think that the the main point is,
uh, not to feel tired about this
and, uh, also highlights that there is no
so huge that the Venezuelan
the countries of the region,
from our point of view is is a key role,
the government will continue to suffocate and to try to eliminate
in a symbolic but also in a physical way,
because until today, the only,
um, the only will that we can see is the
A strong will to maintain the power, the business and the benefits,
Patricia was saying each member of the international community must
So the Human Rights Council must keep an eye on the situation in Venezuela.
who have embassies in Caracas should open the doors
and give refuge to those who are persecuted,
provide the protection that
international law gives them.
Uh, in front of these human rights violations,
accountability is also important. So
we have created an international criminal court
since there is an investigation ongoing,
um, the International Criminal Court,
uh, could be active in this situation.
of course, they're independent and they make their own decisions.
But I think it's important that they play the role, too.
And some member states have universal jurisdiction
that are ongoing, like Argentina,
and that is also, uh, a key part of this element.
at least our mandate ends out if they renew. The mandate
is to keep documenting these human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
Just a very quick follow up.
you you mentioned two things that are Are you mentioned
the international criminal court and you mentioned the regional countries.
I mean, I really wanted to try to, um,
move forward on this idea of what actually can be done, for example.
I mean, does it need to have
or regional pressure on the government?
I mean, we've obviously seen a a change of government not too long,
not too long ago in neighbouring Colombia,
which is kind of changed the make up of the region.
there There's obviously the effort to install
Juan guaido by other other countries.
but but I'm just wondering if if, for example, ideas like
trying to give an exit ramp to Maduro so that he could go and live in another country.
Uh uh, truth and reconciliation.
Um um Commission Or or or some sort of other external, uh,
judicial or or or or or reconciliation mechanism
that could, uh that could, for example, um, clear or or or
give some sort of reckoning to to, um, the military, for example,
or the paramilitary groups and various others or judicial system.
I just wondering if if any of those ideas, uh,
are kind of on the plate for you Have you seen anything along those lines?
in terms of what could be some of
the exit strategies or negotiation political negotiation strategies,
make a statement about that. Because it's it's really not part of our mandate to to
make recommendations about the political Let's say
do, uh, find it incredibly, um, important at this point that there is, um,
you mentioned regional pressure pressure by by by other
countries in in the Latin American region and and,
uh, those that are perhaps closer to Venezuela.
yes, I think that is part of what Patricia was was mentioning before,
uh, that it is important that,
uh, all countries including, of course, those that may have, um,
more channels of communication with the
Um, as well as institutions, international, regional institutions
that Francisco mentioned. It is very important that all
of these actors continue to
Venezuela and the human rights violations that are
taking place there in the centre of the discussion
beyond any ideological or political
Uh, it is very important, therefore also that when thinking of a
possible transition or uh uh,
ideas and concepts of justice and reparation at the centre of the discussion.
So whatever, um, could be, uh uh, The solution to the current political crisis
has to also take take into account that we
have been living and are living at the moment,
a serious human rights crisis.
the humanitarian crisis that Patricia also alluded to with the mass exodus
that we have seen in the past years
see again, a research thereof,
because of the discontent and the level of
frustration of the population in the country.
But what needs to be at the centre is justice for
and accountability for the violations that have been committed,
um, reparation for the victims that have suffered these violations.
all the reforms and changes not only in institutions and legislation, but also
in the practises of state security forces
and other state institutions that have been
deeply involved in the commission of the violations that we have,
um, outlined in our different reports.
Thank you. Um, we'll take one more question from the room.
and then we'll go to those of you who are joining us online. Um,
Um, I would like to rebound on the issue of migration and the risk of a new wave of, uh,
Venezuelan people migrating from the from their country.
from the conversations that, uh, that you have had during the last month and a half?
with people, uh, inside and outside Venezuela,
the signs that people inside that again willing massively to get out of the country.
And second question is, um, I read that in the report that
there are among the people arrested, they are military personnel,
and I would like to know if this the number of people, uh, military or security forces
people arrested is meaningful.
And if this you have also seen any sign of a break of the unity,
I mean what we've seen so far.
I mean, if you see the borders, it doesn't seem that there has been an
a large increase in numbers of people leaving Venezuela.
obviously all countries are
who have borders and have received a lot of, uh, migrants from Venezuela
monitoring the situation.
But from what we've seen so far, it hasn't happened.
it'll depend, I guess on a
the level if the level of repression continues,
if the human entering crisis
of course, this this will have an impact. And I think it's it's, uh
it's foreseeable that this will be the consequence
both of humanitarian crisis and human rights crisis.
I would add to that one thing that our team of investigators has noticed also is that
due to the most recent wave of repression, uh, people that we are speaking with
increasingly afraid to speak out against what has happened to them.
What is happening at the moment
and and this means that people are
indeed afraid, are afraid to speak out, are afraid to
in their country, especially when they have a profile of someone who
are journalists or human rights defenders,
members of civil society who express their
views about the situation in their country.
People are afraid of doing their job.
all of this together, uh, could contribute to a new wave of migration as well Of, uh,
people fleeing the country.
and this also, of course, might include members of the political opposition.
And that has happened in the past as already. We have several
members of the political opposition who I remind you live in exile.
Uh, already for some years. And and that's because
of the politically motivated persecution that we have spoken about.
Now, regarding your question about,
we have documented already in several of our, uh,
previous report and again in this one,
that there have been several members of
have been accused of being involved in the
so called conspiracies to overthrow the government.
And, um, they have been arbitrarily detained. We have seen in this in the period
covered by our current report.
Uh, actually, uh, sentences being handed down,
in one of those cases, uh, linked to the so called, uh, opera
we're talking about very,
uh, high, very severe sentences, uh,
applied to these individuals and and when I
say these individuals are both members of the military
and people that are not members of the military but are associated with them
and that have been implicated in these conspiracies.
even if the numbers are not as high as
maybe civilians that have been detained,
definitely these cases have also
expressing their views against the government and who belong to the
military or are associated with persons who belong to the military.
So we believe that this also has a chilling
effect in the same way that the detention of
human rights defender has in civil society and other
human rights defenders or a detention of a journalist has
in the work of other journalists. So we do think that these detentions
and the severe sentences handed down on these individuals
has has a very big and important impact,
and also in the ability of
those within the military who may
not follow the orders of the government.
Ok, thank you. Um, let's go to some questions online.
We'll take the first one from Bianca Rot
from the global TV, uh, in Brazil.
Yes. Hi. Thanks. Uh, thanks a lot.
Yeah. You You were talking about the importance of the international pressure.
So from all you investigated, if, uh, the pressure from Brazil,
I mean the largest democracy in South America.
If the pressure of Brazil or Nicolas Maduro regime have been stronger,
would the situation be different now?
Do you think the tensions and deaths could have
been avoided with a stronger pressure from Lula?
And do you think the situation can
still deteriorate even more?
it is difficult to see the future,
one of the big problems that have the Bolivarian government
they are not delivering signs of, uh, be open to dialogue.
And this is one of the most difficult
um, to evaluate from outside
in terms of, of seeing, what are the real possibility to be closer and to
to have a conversation about the
the geopolitical situation of Brazil and the size of
the country and the historic role in the region.
very extensive border with Venezuela.
there are all, uh, characteristics
that it seems to be that, uh, a strong position from Brazil. Perhaps
uh, could persuade, uh, persuade, uh, Nicolas Maduro
I have to emphasise, initiate a serious conversation about, uh, a possible,
to go forward in this situation
the at least, the speakers from the Colombia
and Brazil mainly, And in
uh, less, uh, voice, uh, Mexico
expressed to the who are not members of those governments
that there is no easy conversation.
And there is no easy situation to start a real conversation
with the Bolivarian government. So Brazil is really an important country.
It was quite confused sometimes the messages that from Itamar
and from the president also,
that can play a meaningful role
because their history, because the
relevance of the trade between two nations and
between the and because the extension of the border
OK, thank you. Um, we'll go to, uh, Lauren Sierra from the Swiss News Agency.
Yeah. Thanks for taking my question. Um,
in a in a previous report in 2022
you could say that, um, sources, um,
had identified Di direct link between the president Maduro and
orders that were given in certain instances for arrest.
And that was the case as well for his wife for,
the president of the Constituent National Assembly and the former vice president,
who then became minister.
So in the whole period, uh, before and after this, uh, presidential election,
Uh, could you also verify, uh, direct instances where
orders for certain arrests,
and or for certain violations were directly given by
the President and by other high ranking officials?
are in the line of conduct that we have been
reporting before and during all of our mandate period.
see the public statements
by even by the the prosecutor, the general prosecutor.
and they all fit in with the same pattern that we have identified previously in
uh, document insiders giving us
But we think that if one reviews the public statements of the authorities
um, they gave the numbers. I mean, the public numbers of detainees were higher even
than those reported by NGO S.
Um, I think we can say that
as we said, is in the same line of conduct
we have reasonable basis to believe that
the crime of persecution is being committed, has been committed also previously
we are seeing arbitrary detentions with no judicial orders
um, thank you. Let's go to, uh, Emma Farge from Reuters.
I think I'm right in saying that the mandate
is up for renewal at the current council meeting.
Um, I was wondering how hopeful you were feeling about that,
and maybe you could say a word about how important it is. Um, that you continue
your work in the current context. Thank you.
well, what is the most important thing, as we already mentioned,
is that really Venezuela is part of the discussions of
the Human Rights Council continues to be part of,
uh, the discussions and the attention
of the Human Rights Council and its members.
do believe that, uh, a renewal of the mandate of the mission, but also
that of the office of the High Commissioner.
call for the Venezuelan authorities to allow,
um, special procedures also, um, uh,
special procedure mandate holders to enter the country and analyse the situation.
Uh, all of these actors of the United Nations, I think,
have a very important role to play
documenting analysing the situation, formulating recommendations and,
of course, the members of the council to take action.
also, as we have noted in our report,
we have had a very limited time to conduct
investigations on what has happened after the elections.
As I mentioned before, our investigations for the current report
uh, by the end of August. So we had
one month really to conduct investigations, and we believe that we need more time
investigate further and deeper
some of the violations that have occurred in the
pre and post electoral context
and of course, in the current
we do see that we have work to do. Still, shall our mandate be renewed?
Ok, uh, let's go to Lisa Schlein from the Voice of America.
a couple of questions first.
Have you given your report to the government and have you received any response
And also on the question of sanctions? Are they actually
effective or not? Should they continue to be used and thinking,
Uh, mo, most recently about the United States,
which did have a lot of sanctions on Venezuela
and, uh, lifted the sanctions in the hopes of, uh, having a, uh,
freer democratic election, which didn't occur.
Uh, So should they be imposed, or do you believe that they are ineffective?
are, uh, very harmful to the population
at large. And this should not be used as a pressure point. Thank you.
Thank you very much for the question.
in any occasion that we come to the
Human Rights Council to report we offer previously,
uh, to the government. We write to the government offering
usually write to ask some question or ask for,
uh, the possibility to receive, uh, judicial,
uh, files to complete our investigation. But
we never had the privilege to receive an answer from the government.
And regarding the sanctions, we are usually not given opinion.
Um, perhaps we only have a say
the government signed in 2023
That, uh, was at that time promising a pass to free elections and a situation
that really was envisioned at that time.
Very different that the current situation,
uh, the Venezuelan people experienced.
OK, um, any more questions from the room or online?
Ok, well, that wraps it up.
Uh, thank you all for joining us today, and, uh, have a good day.