Amnesty International: “Venezuela: Human Rights at Risk Amid Protests” (English Translation)

UPDATE: Amnesty International has completed an official English translation of the document, which is available in the link below. When I originally uploaded the document on April 4, 2014, the official English version did not yet exist.

I encourage everyone to check out the official English version of the document, which is linked here.

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On Tuesday April 1, Amnesty International released a report titled “Venezuela: los derechos humanos en riesgo en medio de protestas” [Human Rights at Risk Amid Protests] on the situation in Venezuela. The report was made available only in Spanish.

I have translated this Amnesty International report on Venezuela, titled “Venezuela: Human Rights at Risk Amid Protests” into English. The translated document is found on this page, as well as a .PDF file here. 

Here is a small glossary of terms in Spanish found throughout the document:

Defensora del Pueblo: Literally, “The People’s Defender”. The office to which you would file complaints if your rights had been violated by a public institution, for example.

Fiscal General de la Nación/Fiscal: The Attorney General.

Ministerio Público: Literally, “Public Ministry”. The government body in charge of executing legal actions on behalf of the state.

Some notes on the translation in general:

• I left as much as the original formatting and punctuation intact. Aside from two or three cases, commas, semi colons and periods have been left as the author(s) placed them.
• Wherever I’ve seen the need to inject extra words into the text to aid with the translation I have done so within square brackets, [like this].
• I did not translate the end notes. I did, however, place the end note reference numbers as the author(s) did throughout the text, and they look like this: [12].

Any questions or concerns regarding this translation can be directed to me directly, at invenezuelablog@gmail.com

The translation of the document follows below.

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“Justice has to be served. All the hate that has existed in this country must end. The main thing is for justice to be done (…) and peace, the peace of this country.”      – The words of the father of Geraldín Moreno, 21 year old student from Valencia, Carabobo state, who died on February 22 after being shot through the eye on February 19.

1.     Introduction

Since the start of February 2014, Venezuela has been rocked by a multitude of protests, for and against the government in different parts of the country. This is not the first time that the population has taken to the streets to express their discontent or support for the political and economical model implemented by President Hugo Chávez Frías after winning a majority of votes in the 1999 elections; and that current President Nicolás Maduro Moros has continued since his election in April of 2013.

The protests that started on February 4, 2014, and that have left up until March 27 at least 37 dead and more than 550 people injured [1], are the latest example of the growing polarization that has plagued the country for more than a decade. In this latest wave of social discontent, violent confrontations during protests and the actions of security forces, have resulted, as even the state has admitted, in possible violations of human rights, including murders, arbitrary detentions, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Amnesty International judges that, unless all political leaders, both from the government and the opposition, show a clear determination to maintain human rights and the rule of law, both in words and in actions, the current situation could overflow into a human rights crisis.

Amnesty International considers the situation the country is facing to be grave because it could have been avoided if the government had prioritized the promotion and protection of human rights; strengthened the institutions that uphold the rule of law; battled the high levels of crime, along with the proliferation of weapons and ammunition in the hands of the population. [2]

In 1999, when a Constitution guaranteeing human rights entered the scene in earnest, the acts of the poderes públicos [literally “Public Powers”, roughly “public institutions] appeared at first to be favourable to an adherence to the constitutional principles that protected their immunity, while efforts were made to attend to the rights of the most vulnerable populations. However, a growing political and social polarization, that was made worse by the failed coup in 2002 against the then President Hugo Chávez, has brought to light a lack of attention to the protection of human rights of all people, and at the same time the considerable weakening of institutions that uphold the rule of law, creating a context of distrust and deepening the political crisis.

If it is true that over the last decade the state has taken steps to reinforce the protection of some social rights; in particular in terms of access to health services and education, which have benefited the most vulnerable sectors of society, the current economic state with an inflation rate of more than 50% and scarcity of basic products and services, has called into question these advances.

The response of the authorities to the protests and violence during February and March, both by pro-government armed groups and by some of the demonstrators [3], has shown how much work remains to be done to ensure that Venezuela becomes a country in which everyone can live with dignity and enjoy all of their rights. In these times of increasing confrontations, it is imperative that the population have the necessary rights to exchange different points of view and establish an open debate to decide which path the country will follow. Furthermore, in the context of this wave of protests, the conditions to develop a constructive and good-faith dialogue must be guaranteed, and give priority to respect for the human rights of all people, regardless of political ideologies.

By writing this report, Amnesty International was able to identify the difficult in identifying responsibility within a context of political and social polarization such as the one the country lives in. Amnesty International interviewed organizations and human rights lawyers, met with people who denounced human rights violations and abuses against them presumably committed against them or their families, and processed witness testimony, recordings, evidence of complaints and a diverse range of audiovisual records. In some of the received cases, the people with whom this organization spoke did not want to make their complaints or their version of evens public, out of fear for possible reprisals.
In this report, Amnesty International makes public some complaints against human rights violations against the right to life and physical integrity and due process which it has received within the context of the protests. Moreover, the report uses reports from public sources on cases of people, including two National Guard officers, who had lost their lives presumably as a result of violence and the use of firearms, due to both pro-government armed groups as well as demonstrators, during the protests and in the blocking of roads.

Amnesty International, to put this report together, also met with the Fiscal General de la Nación and with the Defensora del Pueblo on March 14. Both corroborate the fact that they had received grave complaints of human rights violations committed by security officers, as well as of the use of violence on behalf of some of the demonstrators during protests and during the blocking of roads. Amnesty International acquired the consent of the Fiscal General de la Nación to investigate all of the complaints received, and informed us that some of the cases under investigation had already led to arrests or the order to arrest security officers for their alleged participation in this acts.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations for the Venezuelan government that the organization considers best to be implemented immediately. In particular, it must be assured that impartial and independent investigations be carried out for every single human rights complaint that is made during this crisis, the perpetrators must face justice, and that victims or their families be given reparations. The organization calls on the leaders of the opposition to send a clear and blunt message to their sympathizers to exercise their right to free expression, association and assembly in a peaceful manner.

Furthermore, Amnesty International calls on the international community to help come up with solutions respectful to human rights and to promote dialogue in the search for a solution to this wave of violence devastating the country.

The organization considers that the response to this crisis must be the respect of the human rights of everyone, independent of their political convictions, as well as the strengthening of the rule of law.

2.     Chronology of the Protests

This past February 4 in San Cristóbal, Táchira state, university students organized a protest calling for better security after several complaints of robberies in university campuses, and the attempted rape of a student on the Universidad de Los Andes campus in Táchira. During the protests, five people were detained, accused of having participated in violent acts, including an attack against the residence of the governor of Táchira state.[4]

Some days later, on February 12, on Venezuelan Youth Day, there were protests in different parts of the country in favour and against President Nicolás Maduro. That day, students, who were later joined by opposition political parties, demonstrated in various states in the country, demanding the release of the detained students, and denouncing insecurity, the economic crisis, and the scarcity of basic products.[5]

In Caracas, the capital, the students ended the protest on February 12 in front of the offices of the Ministerio Público, where they were going to present a petition calling for the release of the students detained in Táchira. Confrontations between the students, security forces and a pro-government armed group resulted in dozens of arrests and several injured, including Ministerio Público workers. Within the context of this protest in the capital, three people lost their lives as a result of gunshot wounds, a young man who participated in the protests against the government, and a man who was on his way to a pro-government demonstration.[6] Also, that same night during confrontations between students and government supporters, in the Chacao municipality in the east of the city, a university student died apparently after being shot in the head.

Up until the conclusion of the writing of this report, demonstrations and the blocking of roads by citizens critical of the government who are now calling for the resignation of President Nicolás Maduro, continue to exist various parts of the country, including the Baruta, El Hatillo, Sucre and Chacao municipalities in Caracas, in certain locations in Táchira state, where the protests would be more generalized, and in the states of Mérida, Carabobo, Aragua, Lara, Barinas, Miranda, Zulia and Yaracuy.

Protests supporting the government are also still occurring, along with the actions of pro-government armed groups who act to stop the protests and barricades organized by the opposition.

Violence During the Protests For and Against the Government

Between February 5 and March 12, according to reports, at least nine people, including a National Guard officer, had been killed in accidents while attempting to pass through barricades or attempting to remove them. At least six other people, including pro and anti government  demonstrators, as well as another National Guard officer, had been killed during the protests after receiving gunshot wounds from unidentified people or by members of pro-government armed groups, without security forces acting to prevent or contain [these acts]. The following are examples of some of the cases involving incidents of which this organization received information:

Génesis Carmona, 22 year old marketing student, received a bullet to the head on February 18 in Valencia, Carabobo state, when a pro-government armed group travelling by motorcycle presumably started to shoot against demonstrators. Génesis Carmona died the following day.

On February 28, in the city of Valencia, Carabobo state, National Guard Giovanny José Pantoja Hernandez died, and another officer was injured, after receiving gunshot wounds. The event occurred while the officer participated in an operation to disperse a group of protesters who were blocking major roadways. According to reports, unidentified persons had opened fire on the National Guard officers. Another officer also received bullet wounds on both legs. On March 6, during another incident in the Sucre municipality, Miranda state, another National Guard officer, Acner Isaac López, died from gunshot injuries, along with a motorcyclist, José Gregorio Amaris, when, according to reports, a pro-government armed group that was travelling by motorcycle attempted to remove a barricade created by opposition demonstrators.[7]

Only three days later, on the night of March 9, Giselle Rubilar Figueroa died by gunfire when she was removing debris from a barricade near her home in Mérida. A day later, student Daniel Tinoco received a fatal gunshot to the chest in San Cristóbal, Táchira state. According to public reports, Daniel Tinoco was with some other students when pro-government armed groups travelling by motorcycle attacked them. Two other demonstrators were also injured by gunfire.[8]

On February 21, Elvis Rafael Durán de la Rosa died in the Sucre municipality, Miranda state, when he traveled on his motorcycle and upon attempting to pass through a barricade placed by the opposition, he was caught off guard by a metal wire which he was unable to see on time.

Amnesty International has placed determined calls to the Venezuela authorities to launch an inclusive political and public [effort], ultimately consented to by all, to control the circulation and impact of weapons and munitions that are used in the country. The National Bolivarian Armed Forces have a monopoly on the importation, fabrication, distribution and sale of arms and ammunitions. Moreover, it is the only authority that controls them. Those politics of control must focus immediately in the strict marking of all munitions and the maintenance of registries that record where they have been sent and how they have been used. As long as this does not happen, the high number of illegal weapons that circulate within the country, many of them in the hands of pro-government armed groups, will continue to take lives.

Also, the inexcusable cost of human lives over the last few weeks makes it more urgent that authorities take actions to disarm the pro-government armed groups, and to ensure that they face justice. Until today, Amnesty International does not have knowledge of any person belonging to these groups who has been detained or investigated for their responsibility in human rights abuses during the protests, including abuses against life and physical integrity.

The Response of the Authorities in the Face of the Protests

After the events of February 12, President Nicolás Maduro, along with opposition leaders, made a call rejecting violence. President Nicolás Maduro also rejected the actions of pro-government armed groups who had exercised violence against demonstrators, and indicated that he would take actions to guarantee that [these individuals] would face justice and be disarmed.

However, until this time, these commitments have not been carried out. From the Ministerio Público, the Fiscal General de la Nación indicated, on February 28, that human rights violations would not be tolerated from security forces. [9] The government has also made a call for dialogue and has convened a Peace Conference that began on February 26, but that does not count on the support of all sectors of the opposition.

Amnesty International considers that if the authorities want to remain consistent with their commitments to establish constructive dialogue with dissenters, with the goal of finding answers to the situations of increasing polarization and violence, they should implement their promises to reject violence as soon as possible and guarantee conditions so that dialogue may occur in non-discriminatory conditions with absolute respect to human rights, including the right to free expression, assembly and peaceful association.

The words of President Nicolás Maduro and National Assembly President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, on March 5 calling on the people who support their government to go out onto the streets and stop the protests and barricades of opposition groups are very worrying. [10]

Violent actions during the protests and the blocking of public roads both by pro-government armed groups as well as some demonstrators have also been worrying.

Amnesty International accepted with pleasure that, according to the information given by the Fiscal General de la Nación on March 14, the Public Ministry was investigating 42 complaints for human rights violations, and that a free telephone line had been created to receive complaints that occur specifically during this crisis.[11] The Fiscal General also said that 15 officers belonging to different security bodies were currently detained for their alleged involvement in human rights violations, amongst them eight officers of the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Naciónal (SEBIN), accused of the murder of Juan Montoya and Bassil Dacosta on February 12, [events that are] documented later in this report.[12]

Moreover, the Director of SEBIN was removed from his post, and two Chacao municipal police officers in Caracas have been detained for their alleged involvement in the death of a SEBIN agent, Glidis Karelis Chacon, on March 7.[13]

3.     Human Rights Violations Within the Context of the Protests

The sad tally since the start of the protests on February 5 to March 27 is at least 37 people killed, including demonstrators for and against the government, people not involved in the protests, and 8 officers of the National Guard. According to Public Ministry reports, during the same period of time, 550 people were reported injured, of which 180 were police and military officers.[14] Moreover, according to reports compiled by local human rights organizations, more than 120 of the injured were the result of firearms of due to rubber bullet impacts.

According to the Public Ministry, until March 12, more than 2,100 people were detained, of which 168 remain in custody. The majority of the detained persons have been released, but with judicial proceedings pending, while another 66 persons have been released unconditionally.[15]

Between February 12 and March 12, Amnesty International received complaints of human rights abuses. These include: cases of excessive force used by the Guardia Naciónal Bolivariana [National Guard](GNB), other security forces and the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Naciónal [National Bolivarian Intelligence Service] (SEBIN), as well as cases of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against detained protesters, either during the moment of detention, while they found themselves under security force custody — in particular under police custody and in some cases under National Guard custody in military barracks. Also, many of the detained reported seeing their rights to due process violated by having been denied access to a lawyer.

The organization has also received complaints from human rights defenders, reporters and media outlets with editorial lines, both critical and close to the government who had been harassed and attacked.

Amnesty International has received, with concern, reports of human rights abuses committed by some pro-government armed groups, who have frequently acted against demonstrators without security forces intervening to protect the right to life and physical integrity.

The organization has also received reports of human rights abuses allegedly committed by some groups of opposition protesters, who had acted using violence during protests or during the blocking of public roads, as well as against security officers and people who were not participating in the protests.

Next, we have included a summary of the complaints of violations and abuses against human rights received by Amnesty International between February 12 and March 12.

Excessive Use of Force During the Protests

During the course of four weeks, Amnesty International has received worrying reports regarding the excessive use of force by security forces, including members of the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Naciónal (SEBIN), police [bodies], and the Guardia Naciónal Bolivariana  (GNB).

Included amongst the received reports are cases of the use of firearms against protesters and homes in residential areas where cacerolazos [16] [a noisy form of protest where people bang pots loudly in their homes] protests were taking place, or where neighbours had placed barricades on roads. As determined by Amnesty International, such use of lethal force violates international standards that, to disperse protests, officers in charge of upholding the law could use firearms when less dangerous methods cannot be used, and, only in the least possible measure needed, when it is done strictly inevitably to protect a life. According to international standards, in cases when it is necessary to use lethal force, the officers in charge of upholding the law must identify themselves as such, and give a clear warning of their intention to use firearms, giving ample time for [these warnings] to be considered.[17]

Amnesty International has also received information regarding the use of rubber buckshot to disperse protesters, in some cases without giving a clear warning, aimed directly at the body of the demonstrators and fired from a short distance, which has resulted in at least one death.

In some cases, National Guard personnel had entered neighbourhoods where residents had placed roadblocks and proceeded to remove them from the area using rubber buckshot, tear gas, and high pressure water cannons without warning the demonstrators or giving them the option to leave the area.

The use of “less lethal” projectiles or rubber bullets must be used only when it is strictly necessary to protect life, in self defence or to prevent serious injury. The use of such weapons should only take place in such a way as to minimize the risk of unnecessary harm, when other, less extreme means prove to be insufficient to achieve the objective, and when they are accurate enough to not cause unjustified injury.[18]

According to information received by this organization, with the aim of dispersing demonstrators and preventing them from erecting barricades, or as a punishment for these actions, security forces have used tear gas in an indiscriminate and excessive manner, in some cases aiming directly at the bodies of demonstrators, as well as the use of tear gas in closed spaces and in residential zones. This practice clearly contravenes international standards that state that when using force, the state “must exercise moderation, and act in proportion to the gravity of the crime and the legitimate objective being pursued” and “[must] minimize damages and injuries”.[19] Due to their ability to cause pain, discomfort, illness or death, the deployment of non-lethal neutralizing weapons such as tear gas should be carefully evaluated with the goal of minimizing the risk of causing injuries to people not involved in the events, and the deployment and use of toxic, irritating chemical substances susceptible to increasing the risk of unnecessary, non-intended injuries and the death of people should be prohibited, as in the firing of a metallic container of irritating products directly at an individual.

For example, on March 12 during a student protest demanding the dismissal of the Defensora del Pueblo, Gabríela Ramirez, the demonstrators were confronted in the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) by National Bolivarian Guard and National Bolivarian Police, who used mostly tear gas to dissuade the protest. As a result of the incident, the remains of approximately 840 of these canisters were recovered, 25 people exhibited signs of asphyxiation, of which 15 required medical attention in the medical hospital of the UCV. [20]

Amnesty International views with worry the use of toxic chemical products in very high concentrations and using irritants in an indiscriminate manner, since they can cause grave damages and injuries when they are dispersed over a large area. The shooting of such chemical products on or near people in enclosed spaces where the exits and ventilation points are restricted should also be avoided, as well as the shooting of irritants near the elderly, children, or other people who might have difficulties distancing themselves from those areas to avoid the noxious effects of the toxic chemical products.

Bassil Dacosta Frías

Bassil Dacosta Frías, 23 years old, died on February 12 in Caracas after participating in a demonstration. The day before going out to protest, Bassil Dacosta wrote on his Facebook page, “este que esta aqui sale a marchar manana sin miedo” [“this one right here is going out tomorrow to march without fear”].[21]

According to the testimony of his family, after finishing the march on the afternoon of the 12^th, the demonstrators yelled and threw rocks at security forces. In response, officers of the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Naciónal (SEBIN), along with armed men dressed in civilian clothing, fired towards the protests using short and long weapons [pistols and rifles]. Bassil Dacosta was shot in the head.

Bassil’s cousin related the events in this manner to Amnesty International: “I came running down the street, I crossed to the other sidewalk and when I went up I heard: ‘someone’s injured, someone’s injured!’. When I looked, it was my cousin. Right then and there I grabbed him, I carried him, but I immediately saw that he had been shot in the head because blood was streaming out of him. So then I picked him up and was like, ‘Let’s take him! Let’s take him!’, and some friends and I took him, and one of the guys who was carrying him says to me, ‘No, it’s over, he’s dead, he’s dead.’ And I said, ‘No he’s not dead, let’s keep going, let’s take him…’ but I knew that my cousin was dead, but I didn’t want to leave him there. My hope was that he would survive because he was still breathing, in fact he was still breathing when he got to the hospital.”

Bassil was taken by the National Police to a nearby hospital, where he died shortly after. As of today, eight security and SEBIN officers have been blamed for the youth’s death.[22]

Juan Montoya

According to press reports, Juan Montoya, Coordinator of the Secretariado Revolucionario de Venezuela, which unifies the colectivos populares[23] in the Greater Caracas [area] and Vargas, died on February 12 in Caracas after being shot in the face, while on the way to support a march called by the government for that day.

Eight security and SEBIN officers have been blamed for his death.[24]

Geraldín Moreno

“Justice has to be served. All the hate that has existed in this country must end. The main thing is for justice to be done (…) and peace, the peace of this country.”      –   Words by Geraldín Moreno’s father

Geraldín Moreno, a 23 year old student from Valencia, Carabobo state, died on February 22 after being shot through an eye during a protest on February 19. Geraldín Moreno had gone out to protest that day at around 7:30 at night.

According to the testimony of her family and from the retelling of events by witnesses present during the protest, National Bolivarian Guard officers on motorcycles dispersed the demonstrators by firing rubber buckshot. The rubber buckshot penetrated Geraldín’s brain, having passed through one of her eyes. Some demonstrators took her to a nearby hospital, however the medical procedures were not enough to save her life.

A relative of Geraldín recalled the events in this manner to Amnesty International: “The guards who hurt [her], who fired, it was (…) ‘pam, pam, pam’, they came and they left. They (the guards) didn’t care if the injured could be taken to a clinic. They came and they left. The rubber buckshot is just for that, to disperse. People get injured but really they’re not lethal, from what I’ve seen (the buckshot) disperses. But (the guards) should have known that the girl had to be looked after.”

The Public Ministry has informed Amnesty International that it has opened an investigation into the case.

Moisés Guanchez

According to the testimony his mother gave Provea, a local human rights organization, on March 5, Moisés Guanchez, 19 years old, was injured by rubber buckshot after being detained by the National Guard when he was leaving his work at the La Cascada mall, in the Carrizal municipality of Miranda state. Around the mall, members of the National Guard were confronting demonstrators who were building barricades.

Detention of Demonstrators and the Right to Due Process[25]

According to the statistics published by the Ministerio Público up until March 27, 2,158 people have been detained. Dozens of them have been detained without apprehension orders and without being found committing any kind of crime (flagrantly). The information received indicates that many people have not been detained during the protests, but rather while they were leaving [the demonstrations] or in zones nearby. Even in some police documents, it has been indicated that the detentions took place because officers presumed that crimes were going to be committed, which were subsequently blamed on the people detained, and not because they were flagrantly committing a crime, as is authorized by the law.

Moreover, security officers have broken into homes in areas where public roads had been blocked, in order to execute detentions, without a judicial order [to do so].

According to human rights lawyers interviewed by Amnesty International, some of the detained were kept during the 48 hours before they faced  judged, without access to a lawyer, nor their families, even in cases where the detained were below legal age. The families had not been notified formally of their detention, nor had the authorities presented official information regarding the detained persons, nor where they had been detained, forcing families and their lawyers to visit different sites in order to find the detained.

The reason for the detention had not been made clear to those detained or to their lawyers, and when the lawyers visited the sites in order to be able to see the detained persons [and to] gain access to police documents in order to determine the reason for the arrests, the access was denied claiming “orders from superiors”. Their lawyers were only able to know the reason for and circumstances surrounding the arrests only a few minutes before their first audience with a judge.

For Amnesty International, it is alarming that, apparently, the right for detained persons to be informed immediately of the reasons for their arrest in order to appeal their legality and prepare their defence has been violated.[26]  It is also worrying that detained persons were denied access to judicial assistance of their choosing and to arrange for the time and adequate means to communicate with a lawyer.[27] As the Human Rights Committee and the Special Speaker for the United Nations on Torture has established, immediate and periodical access to a lawyer is a major safeguard against torture, mistreatment and confessions made under duress and other abuses.[28]

Although the vast majority of the detained until today have been released conditionally, charges hang over them, which in some cases include the crime of associating for the purposes of committing crime, under the Ley Organica contra la Delincuencia Organizada y Financiamiento al Terrorismo, which establishes prison sentences from fix to ten years.

This organization is also worried after having received information that human rights lawyers have had access to detained persons obstructed.[29]

The government must also resist making statements regarding the guilt or innocence of the detained and allow that the judicial system run its course without pressures from the executive. For example, Luis Matheus Chirinos, 20 years old, was detained on February 21 apparently for carrying explosive materials and molotov cocktails, which he denies. On the same day of his detention, the President of the National Assembly [Diosdado Cabello] declared before the media that he had been detained, and told people that the materials he was apparently carrying were going to be used to terrorize the population.[30]

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment

Amnesty International has received dozens of complaints of torture, cruel and degrading treatment by security officials against detained persons, both during the time of the detention and during translation to and at the detention center. The cruel and inhuman treatments perpetrated against the detained appear to have as an objective the punishing [of the detained] for their participation, or alleged participation in the protests.

Amongst the received complaints, there are cases of beatings by security forces, with punches, kicks and blunt objects, including helmets, even when the person was restrained on the floor at the time of detention.

FOUR PICTURES OF PAGES ARE HERE

Moreover, we have received complaints of detained persons who had been forced to be on their knees or standing up for many hours in the detention centres, sexual abuses or threats of rape against detained youths. Included in the complaints received are also cases of death threats, including a case where a young man was doused with gasoline.

The detained had not been submitted to medical exams upon entry to detention centres, and in some cases they had not received medical attention until they were brought before a judge, even though they showed signs of injuries from rubber buckshot and rubber bullets. The right for every detained person to be examined by a doctor, and when necessary receive medical treatment, is a safeguard against torture and mistreatment, as well as an integral part of the duty the authorities have to guarantee respect of the inherent dignity of all people.[31]

Daniel Quintero

Daniel Quintero, a 21 year old student, participated in a demonstration against the government on February 21 in Maracaibo, Zulia state. Daniel Quintero told Amnesty International how he was the recipient of torture in three different locations, after having been detained on his way home by National Guard officers.

When the guards detained him, “The first thing I received were kicks to my face, kicks to my ribs, and cachazos [hits with the butts of pistols] to the forehead. I told them to leave me alone and they insulted me, [saying]: “Damn you, shut up! Shut up, you son of a bitch, get on the motorcycle’ and they kept hitting me”, Daniel said.

On the motorcycle, they took him to an armoured vehicle in which they took turns beating him, “each one almost in a line, pum pum”, explained Daniel. Inside the vehicle, the abuse continued, “The driver of the truck whipped me with a kind of leather [strip] on my left shoulder, about six times. The co-pilot would turn around and hit me with his shotgun on my forehead.” After, Daniel said, “An officer turned on the video recorder on his phone and passed it to a friend, and then he got on top of me and made obscene sexual movements, they caressed by legs with their rifles, they were just touching me [with the rifles], and they said, ‘Oh, he shaves his legs, you’re going to get raped in El Marite [a jail] [32], and if they rape you they kill you too’”.

From there, Daniel Quintero was taken to the National Guard Regional Command 3 installation in Maracaibo, where the Commander in Chief of the centre “told me that they were going to burn me. On his right side there was a bucket of gasoline, wires and matches […]. And he told me that they were going to burn me and that no one would ask for me… he surrounded me with a whole army, about 150 soldiers and he hit me about 9 times on the forehead with his baton [33] while he spoke to me, and I was still handcuffed.”

After, Daniel was taken to the centre of the Grupo Antiextorsion y Secuestro (GAES) [Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Group] of the National Guard, also in Maracaibo. There, he was interrogated regarding the names of the leaders of the protests, the names and phone numbers of the NGO to which he belongs, called “Venezuela Without Bullets.”[34]

Daniel said, “They put me in a dungeon where they told me to get undressed down to my underwear. In the dungeon they handcuffed my left hand, at the level of my feet, to the wall, on an iron bar that was attached to the wall. They gave me two rules: I couldn’t go to sleep, because the Guard doesn’t sleep and I had to feel like them, and I had to stand with my feet together with my right hand touching my ankles and my belly button practically touching my thighs. In that bent-over position I had to stay the whole night, if not they would beat me. So, every time I sort of bent my knees they told me: ‘Hey, stand up properly’, and they hit the floor with a stick, ‘pa!’. I was like this for approximately nine hours. In the morning hours they toned down the physical aggression, but the verbal [aggression] never stopped. It was like this the whole night, ‘damn you, you’re going to get raped, you son of a bitch, don’t look at me’. Insults, pure insults”.

Marvinia Jiménez

“I don’t believe that simply recording a demonstration should have the consequence of receiving a beating”

Marvinia Jiménez, 36 years old, told Amnesty International how she was beaten by a National Guard officer in Valencia, Carabobo. The abuses she suffered were witnessed by the entire country through various videos, taken by people who were nearby. On February 24, Marvinia was taking pictures with her cell phone of the armoured trucks belonging to the National Guard who were dissolving a demonstration near her house. Marvinia Jiménez was surrounded by various Guards, [and] one of them got on top of her and beat her with her helmet and pulled her hair.

Marvinia Jiménez told Amnesty International how many days later she was still in pain. Moreover, during the days she was detained she was not given a reason for her detention, nor could she contact her family or a lawyer for a number of days. It was only when she was brought before a judge that she could see her family, “then I could talk to my brother, who told me that he had been following me all these days. At that moment I realized that I wasn’t alone, that during these days my family had been trying to find me. In that moment, I could breathe… the worst for me was seeing my 7 year old kid in the audience, who had to see me like this, and explain to him that I got arrested, and that I was beaten.”

The Fiscal General de la Nación indicated to Amnesty International that they had requested the arrest of the National Guard officer who abused Marvinia Jiménez.

José Alejandro Márquez

The family of José Alejandro Márquez, a 46 year old systems engineer, married with two daughters, told Amnesty International that he died on February 23 as a result of beatings administered by National Guard officers when he was detained in order to take his cell phone away from him with which he was filming security officials who were removing a barricade.

José Alejandro Marquez left his house in Caracas on the afternoon of February 19. A few hours later, neighbours told his family that he had been arrested by the National Guard, and after looking for him in various different centres, they found him half naked in a hospital in Caracas, bound by his arms and legs to his bed. “We found him there, thrown on a hospital bed […] They tied him [to the bed] with his own shirt”, his wife told Amnesty International.

The night he was hospitalized, José Alejandro’s family found out that there was a video on the internet showing National Guard [officers] removing garbage bags placed as part of a barricade. [The video also shows] how a number of people are chased [by the Guard], amongst them a man who had been recording the event with his cell phone. After trying to escape by running, [the video] shows how he falls forward. The family identified this man as José Alejandro Márquez.

The family considers the fall seen in the video as not being sufficient to explain the injuries and later death of José Alejandro Marquez. His sister indicated: “in the video you can see my brother falling forward […] and my brother has a big fracture here, on the back, on the opposite side.” Also, his sister said that hospital personnel said that “the Guards who took him kept beating him inside the X-ray room. And I’ve said this to all the media, so the brutality of what happened can be known.” These witnesses told the family that they were afraid to make formal complaints about these events.

One day after the death of José Alejandro Márquez, on February 24, the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, spoke about the case on his television show. “He dared”, explains José Alejandro’s mother, “to name him, say his name, and say that he was a paramilitary, and that he was going to kill Maduro and that his comrades were the ones who killed him because he hadn’t completed the job […] The nightmare hadn’t ended yet and he had the idea of blaming him […] During his funeral we had to refute these claims [through the media].”

The family has informed us that there are pictures of José Alejandro Márquez dressed in military attire carrying weapons, but that these were pictures taken during his “airsoft” practices, which was the sport he practiced where participants play using weapon replicas and shooting plastic bullets.

As a result of an investigation by the Ministerio Público, seven National Guard officers have been detained.

Juan Manuel Carrasco

“They put is in fetal position, kneeling, and they beat us, they beat us, they beat us. A guard came out and said that even if we prayed to el maldito [roughly, “dammed”] god we wouldn’t be saved, that today was our last day. They pulled my boxers down and put something [in me] from behind. And they kept beating us, beating us until they were tired.”

“They told us that we were cursed, that we were going to die, that we would never know about god, that we would never see our families again, that we would never know what life was about.”

Juan Manuel Carrasco, 21 years old, was arrested on the night of March 13 of 2014 by the National Guard in Valencia, Carabobo state. Juan Manuel Carrasco was sexually assaulted, threatened with death and repeatedly beaten during his detention.

Juan Manuel Carrasco told Amnesty International about how the National Guard fired tear gas directly at the vehicle in which he was along with other people, breaking its windows. They were forced to exit the vehicle. Juan Manuel said how the abuse he suffered was due to him attacking an officer, in defence of a woman who the officer was pointing a pistol at.

Juan Manuel Carrasco indicates that from that moment on, and during the three days during which he was detained in the Destacamento de la Seguridad Urbana [Urban Security Detachment] of the National Guard in Valencia, he was beaten and abused. Juan Manuel was raped with an object, received punches, kicks and hits with weapons and helmets, was frightened with dogs and threatened with death. Juan Manuel Carrasco told how even some guards tried to intervene on his behalf after seeing the beating he was receiving, “one of the guards says, ‘The dude in the yellow shirt (me), don’t hit him any more because you’re going to make him burst.’ And they kicked me back here, and I spat out a bunch of blood. They kept beating us”.

During his detention he was personally visited by [an official from the] Ministerio Público, who due to fear of reprisals did not say anything since the visit took place in the presence of members of the National Guard.

The Fiscal General de la Nación confirmed with Amnesty International that the Ministerio Público is investigating the complaint of abuse and torture, including rape.

Luis Alberto Gutiérrez Prieto

Luis Alberto Gutiérrez Prieto, a 26 year old student, left his house on February 19 to participate in a protest in San Antonio de Los Altos, Miranda state, along with his brother and friends.

Luis Alberto told of how the demonstrators blocked a road and confronted the National Guard. The confrontation, according to newspaper reports, included rocks and shootings. Luis Alberto explained to Amnesty International that he was watching how officers were punching and insulting other demonstrators, when he was suddenly kicked in the face and was placed on his knees for two hours.

Him, along with other detainees, had their hands tied with their own shoelaces, and were placed on a truck in which a guard, showing them a tear gas canister, said, “Do you see this canister? This is what you’ll suffer [through] when we put you all, wet, in the dungeon, and you’ll see what it’s like to drown in this.”

The kick that Luis Alberto Gutiérrez received resulted in three fractures on his face: the left frontal part, nasal bridge and right eye. Luis Alberto Gutiérrez told Amnesty International: “one of the guards was making fun of me by asking me what had happened knowing what had occurred, [and] I just limited myself to saying that I had been kicked. In a mocking and threatening tone they told me: ‘That wasn’t a kick, I’m sure it was you who fell on a post or fell and hit yourself on the sidewalk… or one of your little friends hit you with a bottle… that’s what you get for going guarimbeando [taking part in barricade demonstrations]’.”

Luis Alberto Gutiérrez was taken to a hospital the next day in the afternoon, where he was subsequently submitted to facial surgery.

Inti Rodríguez

During the protests in Caracas on February 12, Inti Rodríguez, human rights defender from the organization PROVEA, complained of having been detained for more than two hours and of being beaten and threatened with death by members of the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Naciónal (SEBIN) and by organized armed groups that support the government. He claims that they took from him all his processions and the documents he carried. They also threatened his family: “we know who you are and were your family lives, if you start to talk guevonadas [roughly, “bullshit”] we are going to kill them.” Faced with this situation, Inti has been forced to abandon his home for security reasons.[36]

Attacks Against Journalists and Media Outlets

Amnesty International has received complaints from dozens of reporters who have been the subject of threats, harassment, aggression and arbitrary detentions. The persons who presented their complaints did not wish to make their cases public. In the majority of cases, the events had occurred while the professionals were covering the protests. The complaints include journalists and media outlets with editorial slants against the government, as well as state [operated] outlets.

According to Espacio Público, a Venezuelan human rights organization that oversees the respect for freedom of expression, during the mobilizations from February 12 until March 12, 2014, there were 87 reported cases of violations against the freedom of expression that had affected a total of 127 people, amongst them news anchors, journalists, graphic reporters [videographers] and photographers, along with non-professional people who were providing information regarding the conduct of security forces during the protests [and of the protests themselves]. The complaints received included 22 detentions, 30 acts of aggression, 18 robberies or thefts, one person injured by a gunshot and one person killed. This balance represents an increase of 480 percent with relation to the same period last year. [37]

Amongst the alleged perpetrators are security forces officers, who had punched, intimidated, detained for some hours and confiscated photographic material and mobile phones, as well as the theft of the professional equipment of the journalists who were documenting the protests and the acts of security forces during the same protests.

Also, Amnesty International has received reports of abuses committed against journalists by demonstrators and people who were putting up barricades, as well as by pro-government armed groups.

The obstacles against the transmission of the Colombian television channel NTN24, which was removed from the programming lists of cable television [providers] on February 12 while it covered the protests have also been worrying. Until today, that television channel continues to not be transmitted. On February 14, President Nicolás Maduro indicated that the decision to remove NTN24 from the air had been “a state decision”.[38]

According to reports, that same day other media outlets, both on radio and television, ceased to cover the protests after the Comision Naciónal de Telecomunicaciones de Venezuela , CONTATEL [the body in charge of regulating what goes on air], criticized the coverage by some media outlets, indicating that it could violate the Ley de Responsabilidad Social en Radio, Television y Medios Electronicos, which establishes that media outlets cannot show images that condone violence or alter public order. In a statement published in the local press, the Directorio de Responsabilidad Social en Radio y Television, “observes with worry that the media coverage that the unfortunate acts of violence generated in some specific areas of the country, on behalf of some private service providers, national and regional, on radio, television or electronic outlets, could be considered to be in violation to Article 27 of the Ley de Responsabilidad Social en Radio, Television y Medios Electronicos which clearly prohibits the diffusion of content that is apologetic to violence, [or that makes] calls to the ignore authorities and alter the public peace”.[39]

Detention of Opposition Leaders

Leopoldo López, one of the most prominent leaders of the opposition and director of the Voluntad Popular party, has been detained since February 18. Two other people from the Voluntad Popular party, Carlos Vecchio, political coordinator, and Antonio Rivero, national director of the party, also had arrest warrants issued against them.

Days before his detention, on February 18, the authorities had dictated orders to capture Leopoldo López, for his alleged responsibility for crimes committed during the course of and at the end of the student demonstrations that took place on February 12 and days prior. According to reports, the order indicated a series of preliminary charges, such as terrorism, homicide and aggravated assault, amongst others.[40]

On February 18, Leopoldo López turned himself in to the National Guard during a demonstration against the government convened by his party in a plaza in the east of Caracas. Leopoldo López appeared before a judge on February 19, who concluded that there was no proof to accuse him of the most serious crimes featured in the arrest warrant, but that [there was proof to accuse him] of other crimes, such as arson and damages, en caracter de determinacion [roughly, “these charges are still being determined as being either true or false”], instigating to commit crime and associating to commit crime. These charges carry a possible sentence of 10 years in jail. The judge ruled his imprisonment while awaiting the result of an investigation by the fiscalia [district attorney]. López is in the Ramo Verde prison in Los Teques, just outside of the capital, Caracas.

Amnesty International still has not gained access to the information on which the judge based her decision that there was indeed enough evidence to incarcerate him and go ahead with judicial proceedings against him, or why he was not granted bail. Notwithstanding, this organization considers that, the fact that the arrest warrant against Leopoldo López was issued one day after the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, and the Minister of Foreign Relations, Eliás Jaua Milano, accused him of being responsible for the violence that occurred during the protests against the government, violates his right to the presumption of innocence, and by connection that to due process. The words of President Nicolás Maduro asking for the incarceration of Leopoldo López one day after his detention do not contribute to create a climate of confidence in a judicial system that should act in an independent and impartial manner, either.

4.    Conclusions and Recommendations

Since the start of the protests, at least 37 people have lost their lives and more than 550 have been injured, at least 120 of them due to firearms. The victims include demonstrators who have taken to the streets to show their discontent for the management of the government, as well as citizens who support the executive and people not involved in the protests, as well as security forces officials. More than 2,000 people face judicial proceedings for their alleged participation in violent acts during the protests, with charges that could cost them years in prison. This is the latest toll of the growing polarization that has divided Venezuelan society in the last decade.

Unfortunately, the escalation of violence does not show signs of stopping. The country runs the risk of descending down a spiral of violence, unless all the political forces, both from the government and the opposition, commit to respecting human rights and the rule of law.

Amnesty International calls on all political leaders in the country, including those of the opposition, to send a clear and blunt message to their sympathizers to abstain from committing human rights violations.

Moreover, the government should place respect for human rights before their political agenda, as well as the strengthening of the institutions that sustain the rule of law.

In this way, in relation to all of the complaints of possible human rights abuses during the protests, Amnesty International demands that the authorities:

• Investigate exhaustively, independently and impartially all of the complaints against violations and abuses of human rights received within the context of the protests. All responsibilities must come to light and those responsible should face justice.

• Guarantee access for all those detained to their lawyers, their families, and to all of the independent and impartial medical services they might need.

• Guarantee that all those detained be judged in proceedings that adhere to all of the international guarantees related to the conduct of just trials, as is the example of the right to appeal the legality of detention and the right to an adequate defence, which at the same time includes a right to have access to a lawyer in all stages of the judicial proceedings, the right to count on receiving adequate time and resources to prepare a defence, and the right to cross-examine witnesses.

• Guarantee people the right to freedom of expression and assembly, without fear of becoming victims of homicides, attacks, abuses and arbitrary detentions.

• Guarantee the protection of and full exercise of the duties of human rights defenders, journalists and media outlets.

As well, with the objective of taking measures to guarantee that the tragic events of the last few days are not ignored or forgotten, along with assuring the conditions for the development of constructive and honest dialogue, and to give priority to respect for human rights, Amnesty International considers that it is essential to put into practice a National Human Rights Plan. This plan should establish how the Venezuelan state proposes to guarantee all of the civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights, determining the responsibilities of the different actors with a timeline, [along with] proposals and adequate indicators [of performance].

The National Human Rights Plan should be the result of a national dialogue, in which the points of view of all involved parties are included, including that of dissidents and members of the opposition, as well as civil society representatives. It is fundamental that part of this plan include:

• The strengthening of the judicial system to guarantee that it acts independently and impartially and that it protects the rights of all those detained to due process, including the right to appeal the legality of detentions and the right to an adequate defence.

• The immediate revocation of the complaint against the American Human Rights Commission in order to return to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, and in the mean time complying with existing sentences.

• The open invitation to the Misiones de los Relatores Especiales del Sistema de Naciónes Unidas y del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos [literally, “Special Speaker Missions of the United Nations System and of the Inter-American Human Rights System]. The signing and/or ratification of a series of pending treaties that guarantee the protection and defence of human rights, especially the ratification of the Protocolo Facutaltivo a la Convencion Contra la Tortura  y Otros Tratos o Penas Crueles, Inhumanos y Degradantes [literally, “Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment] which establishes a system of periodic visits on behalf of independent national and international organizations to the places where individuals deprived of their liberty are located, with the goal of preventing torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments and punishments.

• The implementation of the Ley Especial para Prevenir la Tortura y otros Tratos Crueles, Inhumanos y Degradantes [Special Law to Prevent Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment], with the goal of guaranteeing the safeguarding of the right to life and physical integrity of those detained. In this way, we insist that the Defensoria del Pueblo, who presides over the Comision Naciónal de Prevencion de la Tortura y otros Tratos Crueles, Inhumanos o Degradantes [National Commission for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment], to reinforce their attempts to prevent and sanction these crimes and to guarantee reparations to the victims, including all of the people who have complained of having been subjected to abuse and torture within the context of the protests in February and March.

• The training of all security officers on the use of force, including during [operations to] control demonstrations, and the adjusting of operating and public order control procedures to align with the principles of the United Nations Code of Conduct on the Use of Firearms for officers charged with upholding the law, in particular in reference to the principles of necessity, proportionality and respect for human rights.

• The continuation of attempts made until today to guarantee the control of weapons in the country, including weapons in the hands of pro-government armed groups. Plans for the marking and control of ammunition should be applied, [along with] the control of organic weapons and the disarmament of groups on the fringe of the law.

Amnesty International also calls on the international community, particularly the countries neighbouring the region, the Organization of American States, and the Union of South American States (UNASUR) to encourage solutions respectful to human rights and to promote dialogue.

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That is the end of the report.