Experts urge Venezuela to establish transitional justice framework
The independent investigators acknowledged measurable progress — including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and a decline in detentions and enforced disappearances — but concluded that Venezuelan authorities had not enacted the reforms needed to ensure lasting change. Laws used to criminalize dissent remain in force, the mission said, and security forces have largely maintained the same structures and practices.
The mission documented 64 new cases of torture since Maduro’s removal and estimated that between 379 and 500 people may remain detained for political reasons.
The experts also warned that impunity persists. Officials implicated in serious human rights violations remain in office or have been reassigned to key positions, the mission said.
“We urge state authorities to take decisive steps toward accountability and establish a victim-centered transitional justice framework,” said María Eloisa Quintero, one of the mission’s experts. “Venezuela should also reverse its withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and fully cooperate with the court and other international human rights mechanisms. Years of entrenched impunity must give way to accountability,” she said.
The mission said hundreds of people in detention remain exposed to deplorable conditions, with severely restricted access to safe drinking water, adequate food, medicine and medical care. Several deaths in custody involving people detained for political reasons were linked to poor medical care and mistreatment, the experts said.
The experts also said authorities have taken no steps to disarm the so-called colectivos — armed civilian groups they concluded are a central component of Venezuela’s repressive apparatus and system of social control. In numerous cases, the groups operate in coordination with government authorities and security forces, the mission said.
According to the investigation, the groups have received political backing, financing, logistical support and institutional protection for years. The mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe the government regularly provided them with firearms, ammunition, motorcycles and communications equipment, facilitating their participation in repressive activities.