By The Diary
Sep 18, 2024, 09:36 AM EDT
Opposition leader María Corina Machado said the report by the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela is “clear” and that human rights violations “are not isolated incidents” but “part of a deliberate policy of repression by the regime,” referring to Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro.
In a note released by her press team on WhatsApp, the engineer also demanded that “those responsible for these crimes be brought to international justice,” while stressing that “the dictatorship in Venezuela represents a danger not only for Venezuelans,” but “for the entire region.”
The UN Mission in Venezuela, which presented a report on the situation in the South American country, asked the international community not to become tired or normalize what is happening, where, it added, the worst wave of repression and human rights crisis since 2019 is taking place.
He also confirmed that in the protests after the elections, sparked against the controversial result that allegedly gave Maduro the victory on July 28, at least 158 children were captured and imprisoned, some of whom suffered disabilities and were accused of serious crimes, such as terrorism and inciting hatred.
Referring to the events, such as “arrests without court orders,” “torture,” “forced disappearances” and “sexual violence” that the UN claimed to have documented, the opposition leader demanded that the international community raise its voice to “stop this horror.”
This would constitute taking actions, without specifying any, that would increase “the cost” for “the repression against Venezuelans to cease.”
The Mission confirmed that abuses have become more intense since the presidential elections, with the aim of silencing any criticism or doubt that Maduro was the supposed winner, after the majority opposition in Venezuela denounced the apparent victory as “fraudulent” and pointed out that the real winner of the contest is its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutía.
The opposition also claims to support its claim with the “83.5% of the electoral records” that the PUD published on a website and which, it insists, proves Maduro’s defeat. Maduro, for his part, claims that these records are “false,” but without any evidence of this.
Machado praised the work of the UN Mission in Venezuela, created in 2019 to monitor and document human rights violations in the country since 2014, whose next renewal will have to be decided by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“The presence of the Mission is essential to continue documenting these crimes and determining the responsibility of the regime. We cannot allow the suffering of Venezuelans to be forgotten or left unpunished,” said the Venezuelan politician.
Continue reading:
- Blinken promises Gonzalez and Machado that the US will “hold Maduro accountable”
- Edmundo González: UN report exposes intensification of repression in Venezuela
- UN for Venezuela: 58 children, some disabled, were detained by Maduro regime