Venezuela intensified ‘repressive machinery’ after Maduro re-election: UN

Crackdown following Nicolas Maduro’s contested re-election in July has left 25 dead and 2,400 in jail.

Venezuela’s government has unleashed an unprecedented wave of repression following the contested re-election of Nicolas Maduro in July’s presidential election, a United Nations fact-finding mission has reported.

Maduro’s victory in the disputed vote saw authorities crack down on the opposition and protesters, the mission said in its report released on Tuesday. The response of the authorities has thrown the country into one of its most “acute human rights crises in recent history” the report by the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) warned.

Amid weeks of unrest on Venezuela’s streets, 25 protesters were killed and at least 2,400 arrested, the report said.

“We are witnessing an intensification of the state’s repressive machinery in response to what it perceives as critical views, opposition or dissent,” said Marta Valinas, chair of the fact-finding mission.

Twenty-four out of the 25 deaths were caused by gunshot wounds, mostly to the neck, the mission reported. Many of those arrested, including more than 100 children, “were accused of terrorism and incitement to hatred”, it noted.

“These arrests involved and were followed by serious violations of due process, reaching unprecedented levels in the country,” the report read.

The repressive response to the protests marked “a new milestone in the deterioration of the rule of law”, it added.

Venezuela’s electoral authorities and the top court said Maduro won the July poll, but they did not show all the voting tallies.

Supporters of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez were quick to accuse the governing party of electoral fraud.

The opposition said its count showed a victory for Gonzalez, who earlier this month requested political asylum in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Earlier this month, the US imposed new sanctions on Venezuelan judicial and election officials, accusing them of helping Maduro certify his victory.

Maduro’s government has blamed the opposition for the deaths during the demonstrations, branding the protesters “extremists” and “fascists”.

Allegations of unobserved “forced disappearances” in Venezuela have increased since 2019, as have reports of cruel treatment and torture, the fact-finding mission said.

The OHCHR established its fact-finding mission on Venezuela in 2019, which had its mandate extended until this September.

The government in Caracas has refused to cooperate with the mission.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies