Venezuelan, proxy forces linked to at least six protester deaths, rights group says

BOGOTÁ, Colombia – Venezuelan security forces and armed groups aligned with the government committed widespread violence against protesters and killed some of them following the country’s disputed presidential election, according to a report Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.

Venezuelan organizations and media outlets reported 24 killings during the demonstrations, but the report marks the first effort by an international organization to verify some of them.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has faced widespread domestic and international condemnation over his claim that he won a July 28 presidential vote, and the ensuing violent crackdown on demonstrations protesting that claim.

The government has yet to release any vote tallies to show that Maduro won. Tallies from electoral observers released by the opposition show that he lost decisively.

The report by Human Rights Watch, a research and advocacy nonprofit headquartered in New York, details the cases of six people who died during protests at the hands of state security forces or what appeared to be armed militia groups called colectivos.

The report said it also independently verified 11 of the 24 reported deaths by reviewing photos, videos and death certificates. The organization also interviewed 20 sources, including family members, witnesses, journalists and other human rights groups.

The group said that it had received “credible reports” of all 24 killings, but that many relatives and witnesses declined to be interviewed for fear of government reprisal.

The group verified 39 videos and two photographs by analyzing the upload stamp to determine the time of day and cross-referencing that with shadows and weather conditions. They also consulted with weapons experts and forensic pathologists to evaluate the reported injuries and weapons.

Venezuelan security forces, including the police and national guard, were implicated in some of the killings according to “credible evidence” gathered by Human Rights Watch.

State and colectivo forces seemed to coordinate to crack down on the protesters, the report stated.

Security forces put up barricades, threw tear gas and arrested demonstrators to contain or disperse protests. If the demonstration continued, colectivos arrived in some cases and used firearms against the protesters.

One video verified by Human Rights Watch was uploaded to TikTok on July 29 and showed at least three men dressed in civilian clothing shooting handguns in the air for more than one minute while standing behind a line of state security officials in uniform as nearby protesters fled.

The officials did not attempt to stop or arrest the armed men.

One protester killed was Aníbal Romero, 24, a construction worker who joined a protest July 29 in a poor neighborhood in Caracas, the capital. Human Rights Watch reviewed a video in which police officers appear to fire weapons at the demonstrators.

Romero was hit by a bullet in the forehead around 7 p.m., according to two videos, a photograph and an audio message sent by a witness that Human Rights Watch reviewed.

The witness said that police officers did not initially allow protesters to take Romero away from the scene to a hospital. A video filmed after dark showed him lying wounded in the back of an unmoving truck. Demonstrators were eventually able to take him to the hospital, where he died, according to the audio message.

Two days later, Maduro called Romero’s death “fake news.” As evidence, he showed a video of a man confessing to simulating his own death.

Human Rights Watch called this claim by Maduro “demonstrably false” and said the man in the video used a name and a location that did not match Romero, and said that a local organization that helped Romero’s family also confirmed that the person in the video was not Romero.

Another death verified by Human Rights Watch was that of Olinger Montaño, 23, a barber who died from an injury caused by a firearm, according to his death certificate. In three videos filmed near the spot where he was protesting and verified by Human Rights Watch, national guard members are seen throwing tear gas or smoke canisters and shooting rubber bullets into a crowd of demonstrators.

Montaño’s mother sobbed over his coffin at his funeral, which the New York Times attended.

The Venezuelan government has said that more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29. A local human rights group has stated that the government has arrested nearly 1,600 people during that same period. (U.S. officials said Wednesday that a U.S. service member had been detained in Venezuela, but did not provide further details).

Government officials have stated that those who were detained were responsible for terrorism or other violent crimes. But Human Rights Watch said it found a pattern of arrests simply for criticizing the government or taking part in peaceful demonstrations.

It also identified a pattern of people who have been detained and denied contact with their families or lawyers for weeks at a time and representation by a lawyer of their choice, even when they or their families explicitly requested one.

The report also said detainees have often been presented in groups at virtual trials, making it difficult to properly administer justice for each individual person.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.