New Report Accuses Nicolás Maduro Regime of Post-Election Abuses, Including Killings, Kidnappings

Nine months after Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela's 2024 presidential election by allegedly securing 51% of the votes, a human rights group released a report accusing his regime of widespread abuses against protesters and opposition members, including up to 25 killings and more than 2,000 political imprisonments.

According to the 104-page report titled "Punished for Seeking Change: Killings, Enforced Disappearances, and Arbitrary Detention Following Venezuela's 2024 Election," security forces and government-aligned paramilitary groups known as "colectivos" were accused of committing grave human right violations after the July 28 election.

As reported by the Miami Herald, the document, published by Human Rights Watch, presents evidence of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and widespread torture and mistreatment of detainees.

The findings are based on more than 100 interviews with victims, eyewitnesses and members of human rights organizations, as well as the analysis of more than 90 videos and photographs documenting alleged abuses.

Human Rights Watch said it received "credible reports" of at least 25 killings during protests that erupted across Venezuela after the July 28 election, in which Maduro was declared the winner amid allegations of electoral fraud.

The document says most of the killings took place between July 29-30, with most of the victims being under the age of 40 and from low-income backgrounds. The evidence points to the involvement of Venezuelan security forces in some of the deaths, while others are attributed to the "colectivos."

According to the findings, these armed groups played a key role in repressing protests across the country—often intimidating or physically attacking demonstrators when security forces failed to disperse crowds with tear gas.

"The Venezuelan government has killed, tortured, detained and forcibly disappeared people seeking democratic change," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement.

In the 104-page document, the human-rights watchdog revealed that more than 2,000 people have been detained for participating in demonstrations in support of the opposition. According to the Herald, those arrested were charged under vague national security laws such as "incitement to hatred" and "terrorism."

Some detainees are reportedly being held in facilities with inhumane conditions. The Venezuelan non-governmental group Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (OVP) reported that children have also been detained since last July and held in such centers.

At one of the detention centers known as Zona 7, detainees described how the walls "cry" from humidity and overcrowding and some said they did not have access to a bathroom and that and cells were contaminated with human waste.

Zona 7 was also the home to more than 20 children, who were held there between July and early August 2024, according to the OVP.

According to Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights organization, at least 176 minors between the ages of 14 and 17 were arrested between July 28 and Dec. 21. As of April 30, five remained in detention.

Although considered children under international law, some of the detainees have been charged with terrorism and other serious crimes carrying long prison sentences, the report said.

"My son asked me what it meant to be a terrorist, because that's what the guards kept shouting at him in prison," one parent told Human Rights Watch.