{"id":14883,"date":"2026-03-13T00:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T00:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=14883"},"modified":"2026-03-13T00:19:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T00:19:00","slug":"un-fact-finding-mission-warns-of-continued-human-rights-abuses-in-venezuela-human-rights-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=14883","title":{"rendered":"UN fact-finding mission warns of continued human rights abuses in Venezuela | Human Rights News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">5 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>A United Nations fact-finding mission has concluded that \u201cthere are no indicators of structural reforms or change\u201d to improve the human rights situation in Venezuela, despite the removal of its leader in January.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, a member of the fact-finding mission, Maria Eloisa Quintero, delivered remarks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/hrbodies\/hrcouncil\/ffmv\/20260312-ffm-venezuela-oral-update-en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(PDF)<\/a> to the UN Human Rights Council questioning whether Venezuela\u2019s leadership would face accountability for its record of human rights abuses.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>She also pointed to ongoing abuses under the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who was sworn into office on January 5.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCivic and democratic space remains severely restricted. Civil society organizations, the few remaining independent media outlets, and political actors continue to face attacks, harassment or intimidation,\u201d Quintero wrote in her statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prospects for full guarantees necessary for free and democratic elections remain remote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All told, the fact-finding mission found that at least 87 people have been detained since January.<\/p>\n<p>Fourteen of them were journalists who were temporarily taken into custody while covering Rodriguez\u2019s inauguration, and another 27 were reportedly arrested for celebrating the fall of Rodriguez\u2019s predecessor, Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n<p>The fact-finding mission revealed that at least 15 of the recent arrests involved children.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"a-violation-of-international-law\">A violation of international law<\/h2>\n<p>Its report was one of the first international assessments of human rights under Rodriguez\u2019s nascent presidency.<\/p>\n<p>She took office after the United States launched a military operation in the early morning hours of January 3 to abduct Venezuela\u2019s then-President Maduro. Previously, Rodriguez had served as Maduro\u2019s vice president.<\/p>\n<p>Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores currently remain imprisoned in New York, where they face charges of drug trafficking and weapons possession.<\/p>\n<p>The US has backed Rodriguez\u2019s ascent to the presidency. Both her government and that of US President Donald Trump have said there is no immediate plan to hold a new election in Venezuela, citing the need for stability.<\/p>\n<p>Quintero emphasised that it was the view of the fact-finding mission that the US operation \u201cviolated international law\u201d, echoing the legal consensus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the Mission has reasonable grounds to believe that Nicolas Maduro is responsible for crimes against humanity committed against the civilian population, this does not justify an unlawful military intervention,\u201d Quintero wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Her remarks also pointed out that, while Maduro may be gone, the rest of his government remains.<\/p>\n<p>That government has faced repeated accusations that it perpetrated violence against members of Venezuela\u2019s political opposition and others deemed critical of the country\u2019s socialist leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe legal instruments that have long served as a basis for political persecution remain fully in force,\u201d Quintero said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cState institutions that played a key role in the repression \u2014 and which have been identified in previous Mission reports \u2014 have not been reviewed or reformed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups have collected thousands of reports of arbitrary detention, as well as torture and extrajudicial killings, under Maduro, who served as president from 2013 until January.<\/p>\n<p>Members of Venezuela\u2019s opposition have also called for the removal of the existing government, which they say fraudulently claimed victory in the 2024 presidential race, despite vote tallies indicating otherwise.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"limits-to-positive-steps\">Limits to \u2018positive\u2019 steps<\/h2>\n<p>At first, Quintero said the fact-finding mission found that developments under Rodriguez \u201cinitially appeared encouraging\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She pointed to \u201cpositive\u201d steps like the release of political prisoners and passage of an amnesty law that would lift criminal penalties for dissidents facing certain criminal charges.<\/p>\n<p>But the benefits of those steps, she said, were mitigated by irregularities. The amnesty law was narrow in scope \u2014 only addressing certain accusations, made within a specific time range \u2014 and the bill never received a full, public reading.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the government has claimed to release more political prisoners than has actually been verified by local human rights groups.<\/p>\n<p>Quintero added that the fact-finding mission also found that 30 officials from Venezuela\u2019s Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigations Corps (CICPC) \u2014 part of the national police agency \u2014 were detained for failing to produce false evidence about the US\u2019s attack on January 3.<\/p>\n<p>Their family members, she indicated, also faced government retaliation. The fact-finding mission called for more changes to be made to address the continued human rights abuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA far deeper and more enduring transformation is required so that the population can trust that the long years of repression and violence have truly come to an end,\u201d Quintero wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, she warned that the existing \u201cmachinery\u201d of repression is simply \u201cmutating\u201d to adapt to the new reality in Venezuela, post-Maduro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a05 mins info A United Nations fact-finding mission has concluded that \u201cthere are no indicators of structural reforms or change\u201d to improve the human rights situation in Venezuela, despite the removal of its leader in January. On Thursday, a member of the fact-finding mission, Maria Eloisa Quintero, delivered remarks (PDF) to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}