RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The new OAS report on the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela produced shocking figures on the crimes committed by the Nicolás Maduro regime. Among them are the over 18,000 extrajudicial executions committed by his forces since 2014, as well as over 15,000 arbitrary detentions and hundreds of torture cases.
However, they assure that this last figure is possibly higher “since reliable reports stress that many of the thousands of people detained have fallen victims” to this type of abuse.
The 153-page report – entitled Fostering Impunity: The Impact of the Failure of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to Open an Investigation Into the Possible Commission of Crimes Against Humanity in Venezuela, urges immediate international action against the Chavista regime and criticizes what it considers the inaction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) with respect to the denunciations the court received.
The report expands on the evidence offered by the 2018 OAS Panel of Independent Experts, which concluded there was a reasonable basis to believe crimes against humanity were being committed in Venezuela. Since then, “crimes against humanity in Venezuela have increased in scale, scope and severity,” states the new multilateral organization report.
As to the general situation of the Caribbean country, the report describes it as “still dire”. Poverty, hyperinflation, tremendous undersupply and disease continue to increase, and the country is facing severe shortages,” the document states. It considers that the political situation “also continues to be convulsive,” pointing out that Maduro “is now trying to control the National Assembly” through the December 6th parliamentary elections, unknown to the opposition and the vast majority of the international community.
The main findings:
- The report identified 18,093 extrajudicial executions carried out by state security forces or ‘colectivos’ since 2014.
- 15,501 cases of arbitrary detention or other instances of severe deprivation of liberty since 2014.
- 653 documented cases of torture since 2014.
- 724 cases of enforced disappearance between 2018 and 2019.
- Identifies that rape and sexual violence have been weaponized by the regime, including as a method of torture.
- Identifies that tens of millions of people have suffered or been subjected to serious injury due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis created by the regime. This includes reports, such as by the United Nations, which found seven million people in need and more than 100,000 children under age five affected by severe acute malnutrition. One NGO with a strong local presence reported that 52% of children and 24% of pregnant women were malnourished.
- With low vaccination rates and limited drugs, there have been outbreaks of measles and diphtheria and at least 400,000 cases of malaria, the highest in Latin America, with almost 1,000 reportedly dead because of a lack of anti-malaria medication.
The report also presents alleged crimes that were not part of the 2018 report, including intentionally committed “inhumane acts” that have resulted in great suffering or death. These include actions that have facilitated and prolonged Venezuela’s worsening humanitarian disaster.
With respect to the role of the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, they indicated that it evidences “failure to conduct her preliminary examination in an expeditious manner, as well as to open an investigation despite the overwhelming evidence of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
Therefore, it recommends that she should promptly proceed to open an investigation on the situation in Venezuela and, in the meantime, request immediate, full and open access to Venezuela, issue a detailed public statement on the deterioration of the situation in Venezuela and highlight the true scope and severity of the situation in Venezuela in her next “Preliminary Review Activities Report 2020”.
Bensouda declared earlier this month that she considers that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela. The Office of the ICC Prosecutor has requested from Venezuela information on “the relevant domestic procedures and their conformity with the requirements of the Rome Statute,” the founding charter of the international court.
In November, Venezuelan chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab traveled to The Hague to try to prevent the ICC from advancing to the next stage of the judicial process. However, Bensouda told him that she had already taken action.
The OAS report concluded that “the crimes perpetrated in Venezuela and their repercussions on the civilian population are going from bad to worse.” And in a virtual conference, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro denounced that “the Venezuelan regime has been allowed to operate with impunity for too long.” “There is no excuse for the actions of the Maduro regime,” he concluded.
Source: infobae