UN: Repression continues in Venezuela in the face of ‘appalling’ human rights violations
“In the Fuerte Guaicaipuro military facility, prisoners have been confined in pit-like cells dug below ground level, exposed to cold, food deprivation and other degrading practices the UN qualifies as torture.
These observations from the independent Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela published on Tuesday are part of a broader finding: following the US military rendition of then-President Nicolás Maduro in early January, State institutions responsible for repression, gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity remain fundamentally intact”.
“Although the releases of dissidents following the US intervention have significantly reduced the number of political prisoners, non-governmental organizations estimate that between 379 and 500 people remain in detention – with the absence of official, transparent and verifiable information making it difficult to converge on a more precise number.”
“The mission documented torture and ill-treatment towards people detained for political reasons. It also found that hundreds of people detained in State facilities are deprived of access to safe drinking water, adequate food, medicine and healthcare, leading to many in-detention deaths”.