Argentina, six other nations ask UN to probe ‘serious rights violations’ in Venezuela

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Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Uruguay on Friday called on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to investigate “serious violations” in Venezuela which may amount to crimes against humanity.

All seven nations have launched a “serious call at the UN Human Rights Council, for the government of Venezuela to stop the heightened repression following the last election and to investigate serious human rights violations, which may amount to crimes against humanity,” read a statement released by Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry. Denouncing results released by the Venezuelan government in the wake of the disputed July 28 elections, they further requested “an impartial check of the electoral results” and “the immediate release of the arbitrary detainees.”

Without having published detailed voting figures, as ordered by law, election authorities attributed victory in the general election to President Nicolás Maduro.

However, the opposition claims that its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who has sought asylum in Spain, was the true winner with around 60 percent of votes.

The release presented by Ecuador on behalf of the six other countries criticised “the lack of independence” of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council and Supreme Court for considering that their actions have “worsened the human rights situation in that country.”

A crackdown on protests that followed the announcement of Maduro's re-election left at least 27 people dead and 192 injured. Some 2,400 people have been arrested, according to official sources.

A report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, authored by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2019, examined the situation of the country between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024. Via hundreds of interviews and documents, it alleged human rights violations –including crimes against humanity – were part of a “coordinated plan” to “silence” the opposition.

“They’re not isolated or random acts”, the text alleges, highlighting the “brutality of the repression” that the nations allege has generated a “climate of widespread fear” in the troubled nation.

UN concern

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern Friday to PMaduro about alleged human rights violations in Venezuela in their first telephone conversation since the disputed presidential election.

The leaders discussed the precarious political situation in the nation, and Guterres "expressed concern over reports of post-elections violence and allegations of human rights violations," the UN chief's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

Guterres "stressed the need to resolve any political dispute peacefully, through genuine and inclusive dialogue," the spokesman said, adding the secretary-general "took note" of Maduro's position on the situation.

The Venezuelan leader, for his part, said the two spoke for 15 minutes and that he explained "the struggle we are waging against fascism" and the "devil" – words he routinely uses to describe the opposition movement seeking to oust him from power.

Within hours of polls closing on election day, the regime-aligned CNE electoral council declared Maduro the victor with 52 percent of votes cast.

The opposition immediately cried foul and dozens of countries refused to recognise Maduro's claim to a third six-year term unless the CNE published a detailed vote breakdown, which it has not.

– TIMES/AFP

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