The Peace Laboratory NGO denounces a pattern of repression by the State that includes arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, attacks and defamation campaigns against activists, human rights defenders, journalists and critical chavistas, warning that these facts constitute crimes against humanity
The Paz Laboratory Organization demanded on Friday, August 15, the immediate cessation of the “criminalization, stigmatization and political persecution” against various civil society sectors, including activists, unionists, academics, journalists, human rights defenders and spokesmen of dissident Chavism.
In a releasethe NGO denounced that in recent days there have been “arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, judicializations and physical attacks against people and organizations” that exercise their right to question public policies, denounce human rights violations, accompany victims committees or propose alternative development models.
He warned that these facts are part of a systematic pattern of repression that has intensified since the presidential elections of July 28, 2024.
*Also read: Consenso space informs Roberto Campero, union leader in Aragua
Peace Laboratory warned that the accusations that present critics and other social leaders such as “infiltrated” or “foreign interference agents” have multiplied only to dissent, which violates rights enshrined in the Venezuelan Constitution and in international instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
«We claim the right to be radical and/or critical chavistas, as well as the right of every person to identify, military or inspire themselves in any political or ideological current without impairing or implying renouncing the freedom to question and discuss the decisions of power. Being critical, making control and dissent is not a betrayal: it is a legitimate form of democratic participation, ”the organization insisted.
In that same sense, he recalled that, according to the Rome Statute, the systematic political persecution through the coordinated use of the judicial, police and media system, together with hate campaigns, arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances, constitutes “a crime against humanity under investigation of the International Criminal Court.”
Among his demands, Paz Laboratory requested:
- The immediate cessation of defamation, criminalization and harassment campaigns against independent civil society and dissident Chavism.
- The suspension of all the constituent actions of crimes against humanity.
- The immediate release of all people detained for political or conscientious reasons, without ideological discrimination.
- Guarantees of physical and psychological integrity for detainees, activists, journalists and human rights defenders.
- Full restitution of fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful meeting and political participation.
“Defending the civil and political rights of all people, regardless of their affiliation or ideological position, is an essential part of our commitment to the dignity and political freedom of citizenship.” Paz Laboratory concluded.
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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