A total of 1,414 extrajudicial executions were committed in Venezuela in 2021, according to a report by the non-governmental organizations Lupa por la vida and the Venezuelan Program for Human Rights Education and Action (PROVEA). Fourteen of the victims were women.
The data reflects a decrease in half of the police executions registered in 2020, when 3,034 cases were reported. However, “the figure continues to be alarming and lethal,” said the priest Alfredo Infante, coordinator of Lupa por la vida.
The Scientific Police (CICPC) concentrated the majority of the crimes (25%), surpassing the Special Actions Forces (FAES), with 11%, according to the report. This last organ was, in 2020, the one with the most cases in the country.
Infante attributes this phenomenon to the repeated calls by the United Nations High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, and the UN Fact-Finding Mission asking for dismantle the FAES.
“Their reports have influenced the FAES to reduce their lethality, however, the lethal policy remains,” warned the researcher.
Not surprisingly, the PROVEA coordinator, Marino Alvarado, warned that “the FAES are not completely dissolved, but their participation has been reduced. In some states of the country, they are not working.”
Alvarado points out that “when the State is willing to control its police agencies, they can achieve results like those of 2021.”
forced migration
Most of the victims remain men between the ages of 18 and 30 who live in poor areas.
“We are concerned about the pattern of police operations, which is the criminalization of young people in our neighborhoods,” said Infante, who also points out that this has had another consequence.
“It is a reason for forced migration. A large part of the young people who emigrate from our country to other latitudes are forced migrants, because they are fleeing from the lack of opportunities and the violence of the State against their living conditions.” he said she.
Although no Venezuelan authority has immediately responded to this report, last year the Ministry of the Interior and Justice announced the restructuring of the National Police, a body to which the FAES belong.
The Attorney General of Venezuela also said on public television that he was concerned about the “alleged” participation of the FAES in a series of crimes.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
