By Luis Carlos Díaz
- Law of Supervision, Regularization, Performance, and Financing of Non-Governmental and Related Organizations: This forces all NGOs to re-register, meaning they’ve all been left in limbo, illegalized or restricted by design, until they re-register, which isn’t neutral or guarantees acceptance. Half of the NGOs I know haven’t registered, and those that have aren’t allowed to complete the process, instead keeping them submitting new documents and waiting for months.
- Simón Bolívar Law Against the Imperialist Blockade: A law that threatens anyone whose work “supports” international measures that Chavismo considers threats or restrictions. This isn’t just about sanctions; it can also involve actions before international courts, human rights protection mechanisms, and diplomatic advocacy forums.
- Sudeban Official Gazette against NGOs: This April Gazette requires Venezuelan banks to monitor the accounts, activities, and even publications of Venezuelan NGOs, supposedly to prevent “money laundering” and “terrorism financing.” This overload of functions prevents banks from opening accounts for civil society organizations or hinders their work. It is a form of financial persecution based on the premise that all organizations are suspect.
- Imprisonment of human rights defenders: Various defenders have been arbitrarily detained, disappeared, some tortured, and subjected to unfair trials, while being linked to conspiracy plots. “Exemplary punishments” have been imposed to intimidate and inhibit the human rights movement and silence its demands and criticisms.
- Weakening of the UN in Venezuela: On February 15, 2024, members of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who were in Caracas were expelled. Then, at the end of the year, they were allowed to return to the country, but on a very limited basis, with minimal staff, little dialogue with the state, and less capacity to provide protection.
- Weakening of the humanitarian network in the country: Since 2024, the Venezuelan repressive apparatus has imprisoned two foreign humanitarian workers, one Italian and the other Colombian. A group of humanitarian organizations (not all) have also been openly threatened for having received funding from Citgo, the Venezuelan oil company in the US. At the same time, important organizations have been restricted from prison visits, preventing them from caring for political prisoners and other victims in need. There is no rule of law or guarantees of real work for humanitarian organizations, despite demands to remain silent. Some have had to leave the country or close, while the vulnerable population increases.
- Accusations against the most important: This week, several fundamental and far-reaching organizations in Venezuela have been stigmatized, such as Provea, Foro Penal, and Médicos Unidos. The first two have received precautionary protection measures from the IACHR. Médicos Unidos is dedicated to health and to expressing what we all see when we go to public hospitals. Linking them to corruption or subversion schemes only seeks to diminish solidarity, the social fabric that protects them. It attempts to silence the media and make the majority believe that by remaining silent, the horror will not touch them. Venezuela demonstrates that this is not the case.
Threats increase while international funding is reduced, diplomatic missions deployed in Caracas support fewer initiatives or prefer more superficial issues, and more “very governmental” organizations appear, made up of former ministry officials, occupying the spaces of displaced or diminished civil society. The result of this is that Venezuelan society, its millions of victims of various violations and state absences, are more unprotected and vulnerable.
These government actions are worsening the crisis, increasing preventable deaths, and fueling new waves of migration.