GENEVA, Switzerland – The Venezuelan intelligence services commit crimes against humanity under the orders of the highest echelons of the government to repress the opposition, the UN affirmed this Tuesday.
“Our investigations and analysis show that the Venezuelan state uses the intelligence services and their agents to suppress dissent in the country. This leads to the commission of serious crimes and human rights violations, including acts of torture and sexual violence,” denounces Marta Valiñas, president of the UN Independent International Mission on Venezuela.
The conclusions presented this Tuesday show the role of the intelligence service (SEBIN) and the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) in carrying out these outrages “in the execution of a plan orchestrated by President Nicolás Maduro and other high-level authorities to repress opposition to the government, including by committing extremely serious torture, which constitutes crimes against humanity,” the mission said in a press release.
The mission has documented 122 cases of victims who were “subjected to torture, sexual violence and/or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” perpetrated by DGCIM agents from 2014 to the present.
Among the torture methods used are “beating with objects, electric shocks, suffocation with plastic bags and stress positions, as well as forms of psychological torture, such as ‘white torture'”, the text details.
These events took place at its headquarters in Boleíta, Caracas, and in a network of undercover detention centers throughout the country.
Maduro’s Orders
According to the mission’s analysis and the information received, the authorities detained persons who were allegedly dissidents and opponents of the government. In some cases, Maduro and others from his close circle, as well as other high-level authorities, “participated in the selection of targets.”
The report also cites Maduro and Diosdado Cabello, Chavismo’s number two, as the source of the orders to identify some of those detained by SEBIN.
The intelligence services “have tortured or ill-treated detainees – including opposition politicians, journalists, protesters and human rights defenders – mainly in the ‘El Helicoide’ detention center” in the Venezuelan capital.
Former detainees in this center explained to the UN mission the terrible conditions in which they were found and that many prisoners “had to urinate in plastic bottles”, because they were only allowed one daily visit to the bathroom. There were “privileged” cells with better conditions for which detainees had to pay.
The mission has investigated 51 cases that occurred since 2014.
“Both the SEBIN and the DGCIM used sexual and gender-based violence to torture and humiliate their detainees,” he adds.
The mission, which has already presented two previous reports —in 2020 and 2021— emphasizing human rights violations in the Latin American country, insists that these acts, especially those committed by SEBIN and the DGCIM, “continue to this day “.
And he warns that “they have taken place in a climate of almost total impunity”, in terms of Francisco Cox, a member of the UN mission.
Mining zone
In addition to the conclusions on the role of the intelligence services, the UN panel also publishes a report on the human rights violations committed by “state and non-state actors” against the local population in the so-called Arco Minero del Orinoco, an extensive region in southern Venezuela rich in gold and other minerals such as iron or coltan.
The group details “arbitrary deprivation of life, disappearances, extortion, corporal punishment, and sexual and gender-based violence.”
In the state of Bolívar and in other mining areas, “local populations, including indigenous peoples, are caught in a violent battle between state actors and criminal armed groups for control of the gold,” he adds.
The mission insists on the need for further investigation of this region.
Since its creation in 2019, the UN group has not been authorized to enter Venezuela and has carried out its investigations in the border regions and from remote interviews.
He bases his conclusions on 246 confidential interviews with victims, their relatives and former officials of the security and intelligence services.
