Maduro Regime Intensifying Repression in Venezuela, Says UN Human Rights Report

The reports say the most violent mechanisms of repression were reactivated after Maduro clung to power with an illegitimate vote count in the summer election.

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government protest in the Petare neighborhood of Caracas on July 29, 2024. Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s government has intensified its use of the “harshest and most violent” tools of repression in Venezuela in the wake of a disputed election in July, United Nations human rights experts said following a fact-finding mission.

Venezuela’s security forces, who are loyal to Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, have carried out arbitrary detentions, torture, and sexual violence, according to a Sept. 17 report on the mission’s findings.