The UN Fact-Establishing Mission for Venezuela is “alert” to the situation in Venezuela, where arbitrary detentions continue, while violations of a fair legal process for detainees have increased, among whom there are increasingly more foreigners.
These elements of concern were exposed in an interview with Efe by the president of the Mission, the Portuguese jurist Marta Valiñas, who has led from the beginning the team created by the UN in 2019 to document and identify, to the extent possible, those responsible for human rights violations in that country.
In reports, the Mission has established that in Venezuela A series of serious and systematic violations of human rights have been committed for at least ten years.some of which constitute crimes against humanity, with the intention of silencing the opposition and perpetuating the leadership in power.
The situation is getting worse
“Speaking especially of the post-election period since 2024, the situation has not improved and in several ways has worsened. We continue to see the selective detention of people with profiles of human rights defenders, journalists or members of the opposition, their number has not decreased and in certain cases, such as that of foreigners, it has increased,” he stated.
Valiñas declined to comment directly on the impact that the pressure that the United States is exerting on the Venezuelan regime may have on the human rights situation because considers that “it does not fit into the mandate” of the Mission he directsalthough he acknowledged that there may be some consequences.
In recent weeks, the United States has attacked ships that left Venezuela supposedly loaded with drugs and has murdered their occupants, while the CIA has been authorized to carry out covert operations in Venezuelan territory.
“We have identified a pattern that indicates that the arrests of members of the political opposition It intensifies at times that, from a political perspective, are more tense and lead to a greater number of human rights violations. In that sense, yes, we are alert,” he said.
Simply participating in a protest or writing something that displeases those in power on a social network has been sufficient reason in Venezuela to be a victim of arbitrary detention, during which many have suffered mistreatment, torture or forced disappearances, “which makes them complex and multiple violations that have continued (over time),” added Valiñas.
Fear and silence
“From the government’s perspective this has a very large and effective impact by creating fear and silencing,” he stressed, after considering that perhaps this is the explanation why the most recent protests have lasted much fewer days than in the past.
“This is the effect of a threat that is not rhetorical, but a real threat“he emphasized.
In this context of arrests, Valiñas denounced a worsening of the situation due to “the number of violations of due process”, the legal guarantees that protect a person from the moment of their arrest.
“Before, a person was arbitrarily detained, but had access to lawyers, whether private or from the Foro Penal (a Venezuelan NGO). Now this almost never happens or, for example, resources from habeas corpus when you don’t know someone’s whereabouts.”
He also drew attention to “the significant increase in the number of foreigners accused of participating in actions against the government”, several of them American citizens.
“The current situation (of constant threats from President Donald Trump) may increase this practice,” he said.
Asked about the significance of the Nobel Peace Prize that has been awarded to opposition leader María Corina Machado, she said that it has been “a very important signal in a period in which it seemed that the international community was forgetting about Venezuela or that the situation was being ‘normalized’.”
“We believe that this award has the value of drawing attention to the violations that many people in Venezuela have suffered for political reasons, not only members of the opposition, but many other people simply for expressing their opinion against the government,” he said.
