Between April 29 and 30, the Venezuelan organizations Acceso a la Justicia and Provea, and the international organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, presented their annual reports on the human rights situation in Venezuela and around the world, respectively.
Three themes and a perspective are shared by all four reports. The predominant themes relate to the electoral fraud of July 2024, the unprecedented repression against popular protests, and the continued impunity for human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed before, during, and after the presidential election.
Within the framework of its priority mandate on economic, social, and cultural rights, Provea also warns of a further deterioration in indicators related to health, education, wages, and social security, which exposes the false narrative of a supposed socioeconomic recovery in the country and highlights the widening inequality gap. At the same time, the future of the country’s overall quality of life is jeopardized by an extractive system with enormous impacts on the environment, especially in areas inhabited by Indigenous peoples, but also in fishing and rural communities affected by at least 34 oil spills and deforestation actions affecting between 75,000 and 85,000 hectares in just two states.
While the Access to Justice report describes what happened in 2024 as a “definitive collapse of the democratic façade,” Provea characterizes this period as a “democratic blackout.” These two titles categorically describe the equally categorical closure of the democratic space in Venezuela. For their part, the reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch highlight repression as the primary mechanism for ignoring the popular will, while recalling that the commission of new crimes against humanity occurred while an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Venezuela remains ongoing. A case has not yet been opened that would allow progress to be made in establishing individual accountability for the main perpetrators of these crimes in the country.
The findings of these reports irrefutably show that in 2024, Venezuela reached a point where democracy has been lost and the rule of law has been completely nullified.
Despite the gravity of the situation, there is a risk that the Venezuelan crisis will become a forgotten one as the domestic situation worsens. The consulting firm Ecoanalítica anticipates a GDP contraction of -4.1%, a drop in private consumption of -5.8%, and a return to triple-digit inflation. The gap between the official and parallel dollar exchange rates is widening, and the sanctions recently imposed by the US administration are likely to fuel illicit economies to ensure the regime’s survival, generating another bubble of comfort for the ruling elite, but with no positive effects on the well-being of the population. The return of blackouts is already being observed, and there is a general fear of a return to the most critical periods of the complex humanitarian emergency. Therefore, migration is expected to continue, while the suffering of those who remain in the country also increases. This entire situation occurs in the context of a massive suffocation of civil society and a critical reduction in international cooperation due to the measures taken by the US government.
The message of the four reports points to the restoration of the rule of law as the only way to reestablish justice and peace in Venezuela. Provea warns that the current “massive violation of human rights will only end when the demands for justice and equal rights for all people can be heard and institutions once again fulfill their constitutional mandate in respect of the rule of law.”
Given these considerations, the international community must keep the restoration of democracy in Venezuela at the center of its attention and, simultaneously, support civil society in its efforts to implement measures to mitigate the suffering of the most vulnerable sectors.