Venezuelan government accused of
'brutal crackdown' after 2024 election
April 30 (UPI) -- The Venezuelan government under President Nicolas Maduro has engaged in a "brutal crackdown" that includes killings and forced detention of critics, a Human Rights Watch report says.
Human Rights Watch accuses the Venezuelan government and its armed supporters of "killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention" following the 2024 election in a 104-page report published Wednesday and titled, "Punished for Seeking Change."
Venezuelan authorities and pro-government groups called "colectivos" for months afterward engaged in "widespread abuses," according to Human Rights Watch.
Those abuses include killings of protesters and bystanders; enforced disappearances of opposition party members, their relatives and foreign nationals; arbitrary detention and prosecution, including of children; and torture and ill treatment of detainees," Human Rights Watch says.
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Election results questioned
Maduro in January was sworn in for his third six-year term as president of Venezuela despite opposition to the election results.
"Venezuelan authorities and pro-government armed groups have committed widespread abuses since the July 28, 2024, presidential elections that officials said Nicholas Maduro had won despite substantial evidence to the contrary," Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in a news release.
The report says Venezuela's Electoral Council announced Maduro received more than 51% of the vote within hours of polls closing on July 28 and declared him the winner.
"The process lacked transparency and integrity," the report says and cites the U.N. Electoral Technical Team and the Carter Center among international organizations that are skeptical of Maduro's election win after observing them.
"Precinct-level tally sheets published by the opposition, which seemed to indicate that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won, were reliable and 'authentic,'" the Human Rights Watch report states.
"The Electoral Council failed to release the official tally sheets and did not conduct the required audits or citizen verification processes mandated by law."
Brutal repression of protesters and opposition
When thousands of protesters demonstrated peacefully to demand a fair and transparent counting of the vote, Human Rights Watch says, "they were met with brutal repression."
Since the election, 24 protesters and bystanders were killed during demonstrations, and more than 2,000 people have been detained, the report says.
"The Venezuelan government has killed, tortured, detained and forcefully disappeared people seeking democratic change," Human Rights Watch Americas Director Juanita Goebertus said.
"Foreign governments should recommit to supporting the fight for democracy and human rights in Venezuela and press to hold the Maduro government accountable for its atrocities," Goebertus added.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 101 people from July to April and analyzed and verified 76 videos, 17 photographs, death certificates of protesters and judicial records involving arrests and criminal proceedings related to the protests while compiling its report.
Hundreds charged and prosecuted
Venezuelan authorities have charged hundreds with crimes, such as "incitement to hatred" and "terrorism," which are punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Many detainees "have been subjected to enforced disappearances," including foreign nationals.
Many of those who have been detained were denied legal representation by an attorney of their choosing and barred from accessing their respective case files.
Many were prosecuted in virtual and group court hearings in violation of their legal rights, according to Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch describes itself as an independent group of about 550 "country experts, lawyers, journalists and others" from more than 70 nations.
Its members advocate on behalf of "vulnerable minorities and civilians" for meaningful change and enforcement of existing laws, policies and practices while holding "abusers to account" and bringing "justice to victims."
Ukraine hit by new military corruption scandal
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has arrested several military officials for their alleged involvement in a corruption scheme that resulted in tens of thousands of defective mortar shells being sent to the front line. Ukraine has long been notorious for rampant corruption, a problem exacerbated when large military procurement orders began being placed.
Complaints from frontline soldiers about subpar 120mm mortar shells began to pour into Kiev late last year. Service members claimed that only one in ten shells exploded due to a smorgasbord of problems, including wet powder and faulty fuses. Local media later reported that as many as 100,000 shells had been recalled, and that authorities had launched an investigation.
In a statement on Tuesday, the SBU said that a defense plant in Dnepropetrovsk Region supplied the military with 120,000 mortar rounds unsuitable for combat use. Without identifying the facility, the agency said that it had detained four suspects, including the plant’s director general, his deputy, as well as two military officials who were responsible for receiving the rounds and overseeing production.
According to the SBU, the plant signed a contract with Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency to produce 120,000 mortar shells. However, in some cases, the plant used “low-quality materials and performed defective work” to produce the shells.
This way, the agency continued, “the organizers of the scheme tried to reduce the cost of production in order to get a greater profit from the state order.” Moreover, the military officials overseeing the process were involved in the scheme and deliberately “turned a blind eye” to the defective batch of ammunition, the statement read.
The defendants are now charged with aggravated obstruction of the military leading to severe consequences, and face 15 years in prison.
Last year, several media reports indicated that the mortar shell crisis was only one facet of the difficulties in the Ukrainian defense industry, which was struggling to begin mass domestic production due to logistics and personnel issues.
Corruption has also been a long-standing issue in Ukraine’s defense sector, especially after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022. Kiev’s Western backers have acknowledged the problem, citing graft as a major obstacle to the country’s EU integration.
Earlier this week, US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz called for proper oversight of American aid to Kiev, calling Ukraine “one of the most corrupt countries in the world.”
As I have been saying for many years now.
Colombian presidential hopeful shot in head
(GRAPHIC VIDEO)
Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was attacked and critically wounded during a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday.
The 39-year-old lawmaker from the right-wing Democratic Center party was meeting supporters when he was shot in the head at around 5pm local time, according to a party statement. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition. One suspect was arrested at the scene.
“We condemn the serious attack against Senator and presidential pre-candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay,” the Democratic Center wrote in a post on X, denouncing the incident as politically motivated.
President Gustavo Petro condemned the shooting and ordered a full investigation to punish the “scum of humanity” behind the attack. “My sympathy to the Uribe family and the Turbay family. I do not know how to mitigate their pain,” he wrote on X.
Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia also responded: “Violence can never be the way... I sincerely hope that (Uribe) is well and out of danger.”
Uribe, a vocal critic of the current administration, announced his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election earlier this year. The incident marks one of the most serious attacks on a national political figure in Colombia in decades. No comparable assassination attempt has occurred since the early 1990s, during the era of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
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