Human Rights Violations and Repression Persist in Venezuela, UN Fact-Finding Mission Reveals
Author: Maya Mortenson
September 21, 2026
HRRC condemns the continued use of torture, arbitrary detention, and repression found in Venezuela. We call on the government of Venezuela to end all uses of torture, shut down state facilities that are sites of human rights abuses, hold officials associated with human rights abuses accountable, and dismantle armed civilian groups that surveil and repress communities.
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A fact-finding mission established by the United Nations Human Rights Council revealed that repression and human rights violations have persisted in Venezuela despite the U.S.’s removal of former President Nicolás Maduro. After President Maduro’s removal, there have been limited improvements to the human rights situation in the country such as declines in long term detentions and disappearances as well as the release of many political prisoners. However, major human rights violations continue. New cases of torture have been uncovered, laws that criminalize opposition have stayed in place, officials who were found to have been involved in human rights violations still hold critical positions, and pro-government civilian groups continue to surveil communities.
President Maduro was captured in a U.S. military operation in the beginning of January. Maduro is now awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges in the U.S., yet his Socialist Party government has remained in power.
The current interim President is Delcy Rodriguez, who is an ally of Maduro. The report showed that Rodriguez implemented prisoner releases as well as an amnesty law and closed the El Helicoide detention facility, which was a site of human rights abuses. Additionally, under Rodriguez, it is reported that civil society groups and opposition have had greater ability to challenge authority.
Despite these improvements, institutions, systems, and laws responsible for human rights abuses in Venezuela have not been reformed. There are several laws still in place that can be used to criminalize opposition. Quick arbitrary arrests continue to be a tactic used to intimidate civil society and opposition actors.
19 officials who have been identified for their role in gross human rights violations continue to hold critical roles in government and the number of political prisoners in the country is still estimated to be between 379 and 500 by non-governmental organizations.
The report also found 64 cases of torture that have occurred since the removal of President Maduro. Those detained at state facilities were found to be barred from clean water, food, and healthcare, which has led to several deaths. At the Fuerte Guaicaipuro military facility, prisoners have been subject to an underground sealed hole referred to as the “time machine”, harsh cold temperatures, and starvation, practices that constitute torture according to the United Nations.
“Colectivos”, the pro-government armed civilian groups, remain fully intact. These groups have been associated with major human rights violations in Venezuelan communities. Colectivos are closely tied to the state, often being given firearms, radio equipment, and motorcycles. Colectivos work as surveillance, repressing demonstrations and those considered opposition to the government.
Glossary
Amnesty: the act of an authority (such as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals.
Arbitrary: chosen, decided, etc. seemingly at random or on a whim rather than in a reasoned or methodical way.
Civil Society: the collective of non-governmental organizations, community groups, and associations that operate independently of the state and the market.
Detention: the state of being detained.
Disappearance: the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.
Political Prisoner: a person who is imprisoned because that person’s actions or beliefs are contrary to those of his or her government.
Repress: to put down by force.
Torture: any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
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