The fact-finding mission on Venezuela, appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, delivered a damning report for the government and the person of Nicolas Maduro. The three independent investigators claim to have “Reasons to believe” that crimes against humanity are committed in the land of the Bolivarian revolution. They also have “Reasons to believe” that President Maduro, the President of the Constituent Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, number two in the regime, the Minister of the Interior, Nestor Reverol, and the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino, are responsible. Caracas disputes the content of the report published Wednesday, September 16, which has yet to be discussed and approved by the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Murder, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual violence, inhuman treatment: the list of human rights violations in Venezuela is long. And it is not new. But the report specifies the chain of command: Nicolas Maduro and his relatives ” have gave orders and provided means ” for these crimes to be committed. This means that it evokes, beyond the political responsibility of the Venezuelan state, the personal – and therefore criminal – responsibility of the individuals concerned. The question is asked whether the publication of the text will weigh on the work of the International Criminal Court where, since 2018, Venezuela has been the subject of a preliminary examination.
The Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs was the first to react. On his Twitter account, Jorge Arreaza blasted “A report against Venezuela”, “riddled with lies” and elaborated “Without any methodology”, by “A phantom mission at the orders of subordinate governments in Washington”. For the Minister, this report “Illustrates the perverse practice of playing politics with human rights and not politics with human rights”. And, still according to Mr. Arreaza, “It demonstrates a tendentious intention to undermine the independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people and of all the peoples of the world”.
A political function of social control
The three international experts were unable to work in Venezuela. Neither the Venezuelan mission to the UN in Geneva, nor any authority in Caracas has indeed responded to their requests. It is therefore in Panama that they listened to the 274 testimonies of direct victims, families of victims, public officials and members of the public force, activists, activists. The 223 documented cases of human rights violations led investigators to conclude that, “Far from constituting isolated cases”, these practices were the manifestation of a systematic policy, of a state policy.
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