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According to a report presented today by the Organization of American States (OAS), more than 18,093 murders were committed between 2014 and 2020 by state security forces and paramilitary groups in Venezuela, including extrajudicial executions and the death of protesters.
In the document, the Washington-based agency adds that there are 653 documented cases of torture, although it admits that “the number is much higher, as reliable reports show that many thousands of detainees have been victims of torture and ill-treatment.”
Estimates point to 15,501 arbitrary arrests and 724 enforced disappearances between 2018 and 2019.
The report warns that, “since January 2020, the total number of deaths from state security operations has exceeded 2,000”.
“The situation in Venezuela remains disastrous. Poverty, hyperinflation, huge needs and disease continue to increase and the country continues to face major shortages, ”the report reads.
The political situation “continues to be convulsive”, underline the authors of the report, reporting that the president, Nicolás Maduro, “is now trying to control the National Assembly (Parliament, led by the opponent Juan Guaidó)”.
For the OAS, “the crimes committed in Venezuela and their repercussions on civil society go from bad to worse”.
“In particular, the humanitarian crisis is afflicting the lives of many millions of people. Even before the pandemic began, the humanitarian crisis was already afflicting Venezuela, ”the note adds.
In a press conference, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro denounced today that “the Venezuelan regime has been authorized for too long to operate with impunity”.
“There is no excuse for the actions of the Maduro regime,” he said.
For his part, OAS Special Adviser Jared Genser stressed that “the alleged crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela by Maduro and his regime have increased in scale, scope and gravity, as the country faces political and economic turmoil. which, combined with the shortage of food and medicine, has caused a total humanitarian crisis ”.
Genser also criticized the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, who has not yet opened an investigation into these alleged crimes and who took three years to complete two of the four stages of his “preliminary examination”.
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