The International Secretariat of Amnesty International publishes its own website, with country specific news and campaigns. Do check out the Venezuela page.
Amnesty’s 2023 report on Venezuela
Amnesty’s 2023 report on Venezuela notes the continued repression of dissent, the lack of access to education, health, food, and water, the use of arbitrary detention and unfair trials, extrajudicial executions and inhuman detention conditions. Also important to note is the continued violence against women and girls, the repression of indigenous rights in the Orinoco Mining area and the refusal of the Maduro government to sign the Escazu Agreement, which guarantees peoples’ rights to participate in decisions impacting the environment.
Significant Events from Newsletters 2024
June
Amnesty International has released further information for Juan Carlos Marrufo, who has been held in politically motivated arbitrary detention since March 2019. As well as subjecting him to isolation and a lack of drinking water, the authorities have denied him medical testing and treatment. The pattern of events mirrors those suffered by Emirlendris Benitez and Maria Auxiliadora Delgado, who we are also campaigning for and who also require medical attention. Please write to the Penitentiary Minister in this Urgent Action calling on the minister to provide medical attention for the three immediately. Please send your letters c/o the Venezuelan Embassy in London: 1 Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 2HW
May
Amnesty has publicised the relentless persecution of civil society and dissidents. Ana Piquer, Americas director, noted that “In Venezuela, Maduro’s government has started the year with an alarming intensification of the policy of repression that it uses to try to curtail civic space, critical voices, and political opposition… these are not new or isolated events. They’re part of a state policy against anyone who might be considered a threat to the current government’s continued grip on power”. We strongly encourage everyone to share Amnesty’s recent public statement (in Spanish), outlining the alarming escalation of persecution in the country.
April
Venezuela has announced that it will hold its Presidential Election on 28 July, earlier than expected. The accelerated timetable will provide the opposition with little time to promote a replacement for Maria Corina Machado, who has been barred from standing despite receiving almost 90% of the vote in the opposition primaries. The opposition’s second choice, Corina Yoris, has also been prevented from running, although they have now managed to inscribe ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.
March
On 9th February, Rocio San Miguel (above), a well-known human rights defender, was arbitrarily detained at the airport in Caracas, Venezuela. Her forced disappearance follows a widely documented pattern of disappearances in the country. Rocio San Miguel was a highly prominent expert and lawyer who had been monitoring the actions of the Armed Forces in Venezuela, including alleging cases of torture, murder, and arbitrary detentions perpetrated by the state authorities.
We are calling on all those who have not done so already to sign our Urgent Action, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Rocio San Miguel. The Action also calls for a definitive stop to the policy of repression against those considered to be opposing the government. Whilst the Attorney General’s Office publicly acknowledged her detention but has only recently provided information as to her whereabouts; her lawyers have received no response to their queries. Rocio San Miguel has had no access to family members or to legal representation.
We have issued a second Urgent Action calling for the Venezuelan authorities to stop withholding detainees’ medical care. The Action comes after the unexpected transfer of Juan Carlo Marrufo to a separate prison, almost three years into his politically motivated arbitrary detention. The authorities have continued to deny him testing and treatment. His health is declining. Juan Carlos’s wife, Maria Auxiliadora Delgado, and Emirlendris Benitez also require immediate medical tests.
Amnesty International has also filed a submission with the Argentinean criminal court asking that it investigate crimes against humanity in Venezuela. The lawsuit notes that the Venezuelan justice system has demonstrated that it has “neither the will nor the capacity to genuinely and adequately investigate, prosecute, and criminally punish the perpetrators of serious human rights crimes”. A previous lawsuit, filed in the Argentinean court in June 2023 by victims of crimes against humanity and the Clooney Foundation, had made similar allegations and was supported by Amnesty at the time.
February
On 9th January 2024, the National Assembly of Venezuela resumed consideration of a bill that will restrict and potentially criminalize and close down non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Venezuela. The bill passed a preliminary vote on 24th January 2023 and its final passage into law may be imminent, forcing NGOs to comply with measures violating their right to freedom of association or to face criminal prosecution. We have published an Urgent Action calling for the removal of the bill, which we urge members to sign.
In light of their need for immediate medical care, we are also calling for members to sign an additional Urgent Action for the provision of healthcare to Emirlendris Benitez, Maria Auxiliadora Delgado, and Juan Carlos Marrufo, who have been detained by the Venezuelan authorities on charges without evidence.
January
Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, ordered more than 5,600 military personnel to participate in defensive exercises, in the latest escalation over the Essequibo region of neighboring Guyana. Maduro claimed that he was launching an action ‘of a defensive nature in response to the provocation and threat of the UK against peace and the sovereignty of our country’ after the UK Ministry of Defence announced that it would send a patrol vessel to Guyana. The Venezuelan administration has claimed that the oil-rich Essequibo region belongs to Venezuela; Guyana has referred the issue to the United Nations; both countries had agreed not to use force.