Maduro has sent a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva demanding that the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) “rectify” its scathing report on his regime’s long list of human rights abuses.
The report, which was made public last week, calls attention to cases of extrajudicial killings, torture, and widespread political persecution committed during the Maduro presidency. The report’s findings are based both on hundreds of interviews with victims of the regime’s human rights violations, as well as on the work of Venezuelan NGOs.
In the letter, Maduro accuses Bachelet’s report of being filled with “serious errors, accusations and omissions”, and calls it a work of “intervention”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza posted a link on his Twitter page of an English version of the letter:
In the letter, the Maduro regime alleges that the report is part of a campaign to create “an illegal and immoral case against Venezuela”, and includes the following accusation against Bachelet:
… you DID NOT LISTEN TO VENEZUELA [sic].
The letter also includes the following:
You report disregards the historical truth of Latin America and ignores the titanic effort of the Venezuelan State to protect its people from unquantifiable material and human damage caused by the criminal blockade of the United States and its allies.
Maduro signed the letter with the phrase “Por Venezuela venceremos!” [We will be victorious for Venezuela!”]:
Parents of Protest Dead Thank Bachelet for Report
The parents of 21 people who were killed during anti-government protests in 2017 have also sent a letter to the OHCHR, this one thanking Bachelet for publishing her report.
In the letter, the parents express their “support” for the report, and argue that it was researched “in a rigorous and respectful manner”. The parents also stress the importance of the report and others like it given the nature of the Maduro regime:
As victims, we continue to be submitted to a national [legal] system that denies us justice, [puts up] obstacles, without any progress or interest on behalf to State to clarify these events and punish those responsible for the deaths of our children and relatives.
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