- Jan 19, 2010
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World Report 2021: Rights Trends in Venezuela
www.hrw.org
World Report 2021: Rights Trends in Venezuela
Persecution of Political Opponents, Arrests, and Torture
The government has jailed political opponents and disqualified them from running for office. As of September 30, prisons and intelligence headquarters held 348 political prisoners, according to the Penal Forum, a Venezuelan network of pro-bono criminal defense lawyers.In August, Maduro announced pardons for 110 political prisoners, but fewer than half of them had been incarcerated for political motives, the Penal Forum reported, and some faced no charges. Many others remain in arbitrary detention or are subject to arbitrary arrest and prosecution. Some have been forced into exile, including opposition leader Leopoldo López, who fled in October. López had been sentenced to 13 years in prison on unsubstantiated charges of inciting violence during demonstrations against the government in 2014, and spent years in a military prison and under house arrest.
Intelligence and security forces have detained and tortured military personnel accused of plotting against the government. Authorities have tortured various detainees for information about alleged conspiracies. To determine the whereabouts of some suspects, authorities have detained and tortured family members.
During several crackdowns since 2014, Venezuelan security forces and colectivos have attacked demonstrations. Security forces have shot demonstrators at point-blank range with riot-control munitions, brutally beaten people who offered no resistance, and staged violent raids on apartment buildings.
Of more than 15,500 people arrested since 2014 in connection with protests—including demonstrators, bystanders, and people taken from their homes without warrants—some 9,255 had been conditionally released as of September 2020 but remained subject to prosecution. A total of 870 had been prosecuted by military courts.
The government has used the Covid-19 state of emergency as a pretext to repress dissent, arbitrarily detaining and prosecuting dozens of political opponents, including legislators, journalists, healthcare workers who criticize the government’s handling of the pandemic, and lawyers who provide legal support to demonstrators protesting lack of access to water, gasoline, or medicines.
In July, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported 16 cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment from June 2019 to May 2020, saying the actual number could be “significantly higher.” The cases include severe beatings with boards, suffocation with plastic bags and chemicals, waterboarding, electric shocks to eyelids and genitals, exposure to cold temperatures, and being handcuffed for extended periods of time. In some cases, doctors issued false or inaccurate medical certificates not disclosing signs of torture.
Is this what liberals want for the USA?..... we had better get serious about what the dems want to do.... We are moving towards a Venezuelan style of government and our own media and school system are pushing us along....
Biden creates a ministry of truth and there is no news about it on 90% of the media..... If Trump did that the dems and the media would have gone nuts and impeached him again.....
