In its report on the situation in Venezuela, Volker Turk detailed that arrests and prosecutions increased, with 38 cases of arbitrary detention in the last year, of persons held for different periods of time and whose whereabouts were hidden from their families and lawyers.
Freedoms are shrinking in Venezuela as July 28 elections approach, in which President Nicolas Maduro seeks a third term, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned Wednesday.
Turk told the United Nations Human Rights Council that his office had documented last year – an increase in threats, harassment and aggression against civil society actors, journalists, trade unionists and other voices considered critical.
I regret that restrictions on civic space are increasing,” he said, in comments later rejected by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil, who questioned the technical cooperation with the High Commissioner’s office, expelled in February after expressing concern about the arrest of Rocío San Miguel, an expert on military issues.
“We denounce again the instrumentalization of the Human Rights Council,” Gil said in X. It is very difficult to establish some technical cooperation (…) as long as they persist in their biased position of protection of right-wing extremism that aims to continue to curtail the rights of Venezuelans, he said.
In its report on the situation in Venezuela, Turk detailed that arrests and prosecutions increased, with 38 cases of arbitrary detention in the last year, of persons held for different periods of time and whose whereabouts were hidden from their families and lawyers.
All these cases of forced disappearances must be investigated and this practice must end,” he said.
He also expressed concern about the bill for non-governmental organizations and their funding, as well as a new anti-fascist law, which critics warn will be used to accentuate harassment of dissent.
Several countries expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela and the representative of the European Union to the Council condemned in particular the decision of Caracas to withdraw its invitation to an EU electoral observation mission.
Venezuela’s ambassador, Alexander Yáñez, replied that the High Commissioner’s report was politically motivated information and minimized the damage caused by the American sanctions.
Maduro seeks a third six-year term in an election in which most polls give advantage to the opposition led by María Corina Machado, disqualified for the presidential elections, but represented by unknown Ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia.
González Urrutia’s stay on the ballot is also threatened by a Supreme Court lawsuit against the party that supports him.
This article has been translated after first appearing in El Salvador