United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet issued an update today to her bombshell June report on the human rights situation in Venezuela, noting with concern that the situation in the country had not improved since her earlier report.
In her updated report, Bachelet noted for example that Venezuelan authorities are alleged to have executed at least 57 more individuals since June, when she highlighted the reign of terror unleashed by the Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales (FAES, Special Actions Force), a feared unit of the National Bolivarian Police. In today’s update, Bachelet wrote:
The documented cases exhibit the same pattern that I identified in my June report, and reveal the abscence of effective mechanisms to protect witnesses and victims’ families, the majority of whom are women.
In this updated report, Bachelet also commented on the fact that civil society associations that provided information to her office for the June report have been targeted by the Maduro regime, a fact that she was was “unacceptable”.
Bachelet also wrote about the fact that the Maduro regime continues to allow the unchecked exploitation of the Orinoco belt for resources, which is having a negative impact on the indigenous communities in that region.
Cabello: “We Won’t Lose Sleep” Over Update
PSUV vice president Diosdado Cabello reacted to Bachelet’s updated report, saying that he would “not lose sleep” over its findings.
In his characteristically mocking and defiant tone, Cabello taunted Bachelet in a televised event by inviting her to continue to write reports about Venezuela, while at the same time suggesting that she was working for the United States government to smear Venezuela. Cabello said:
Any way, Ms. Bachelet can say whatever she wants. Of course she can. We won’t lose sleep over it. We won’t let ourselves be blackmailed (…) Mrs. Bachelet, write this [report] and twenty more. I mean, sign this [report] and twenty more. Ask Eliot Abrams, since he’s the one who writes them for you…
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