As one of the most anticipated political scenarios, 2025 opened the way to a new wave of repression against real or perceived dissent in the run-up to the inauguration on January 10, the date on which Nicolás Maduro legally began the consummation of a coup d’état in Venezuela by “swearing in” as President without showing the electoral records supporting it.
The State had planned this scenario to ensure the permanence in power of the de facto government. Caracas and surrounding cities were militarized in response to the announcements of protests on January 9 and 10, so that more than 1,200 security personnel were deployed, according to Granko Arteaga, head of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, (DGCIM), to “guarantee the peace of the country and that the president is sworn in on January 10.”
The reactivation of the most violent form of repressive machinery, as identified by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission in March and September 2024, this time resulted in at least 83 arbitrary arrests in the first half of January. See the extraordinary dimensions of the repression in 2025, when in 2024, within the framework of the “Furia Bolivariana” plan, there were 32 arrests recognized during January. This year, according to the organization Foro Penal, most arrests have occurred on Thursday, January 9, on the context of the opposition mobilization with at least 46 confirmed cases, while the second day with the most cases has been January 7, with 17, including those of human rights defender Carlos Correa, former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez and Edmundo Gónzalez Urrutia’s son-in-law, Rafael Tudares. Some of the victims include a teenager, journalists, collaborators of María Corina Machado, and even a failed attempt against her.
It should be noted that the majority of these arrests, as they are not recognized by the State or the whereabouts of the victims are denied, constitute enforced disappearances, one of the crimes against humanity that, together with the crime of persecution, is being used by the State to discourage the work of civil society in this post-electoral context.
The international community is witnessing an escalation of generalized state violence and must assume that this is the continuation of the repressive patterns implemented at least since 2014. What is new is the context of this state violence, framed in an ongoing coup d’état, that is, from the position of a government that knows it lost the elections and constitutionally must hand over the power, but which has preferred to cling to it by resorting to its available tool, which is force. Thus, it must be anticipated that political violence may have unprecedented dimensions.
The UN Secretary General expressed on Wednesday, January 8, through his spokesperson, his “deep concern” about the “arbitrary detention and persecution” of opponents and their families. The European Union urged that same day the “immediate” release of all political prisoners. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Fact-Finding Mission did the same, as did presidents and other high-level officials. However, there is a deafening silence from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which continues to decide on passivity in the face of the worsening of crimes against humanity. The track of positive complementarity has become its shield to justify its inaction. We call on States to demand that Prosecutor Karim Khan fully exercise his mandate in Situation Venezuela I, by opening cases and issuing the relevant arrest warrants.
Anchored in the illegitimate use of violence and under the iron control of the State institutions, Nicolás Maduro made a pseudo-swearing-in as President on January 10, consummating the beginning of the coup d’état. It is striking that Maduro was not able to comply with the minimum postulates of the Constitution to give himself a pretense. The Constitution requires that one be sworn in before the National Assembly, which presupposes the constitution of the Assembly to carry out the presidential investiture. That day, however, there was no quorum of the deputies of the National Assembly, and the place was packed with government officials, military personnel and certain international guests who lent themselves to validate the electoral fraud, as was the case of the Colombian ambassador in Venezuela and the dictatorships of Cuba and Nicaragua. In addition, the event had severe restrictions on the press. Since not even the government’s own deputies were present, there is an eloquent example of the lack of internal support for the government and the fractures it is facing.
On the other hand, in the context of the coup d’état, the Simón Bolívar Law starts to be applied by the government. In a press conference on January 13, Attorney General Tarek William Saab pointed out Leopoldo López, and former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque of calling for “an armed intervention”, opening an investigation and requesting a red alert from Interpol for the crimes of “instigating armed actions against the Republic, treason, conspiracy and association”, indicating that they are stipulated in the Simón Bolívar Law. This law, designed to persecute those who are considered in some way linked to “unilateral coercive measures and other restrictive or punitive measures”, or “the disregard of public powers”, can play a relevant role in the increase in repression. Countries or institutions that issue personal sanctions, as has just happened with Canada, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom against several mid- and high-ranking Venezuelan officials, should strengthen their protection policies in favor of those who are persecuted under the guise of the sanctions they impose.
Besides to the threat of the Simón Bolívar Law, Maduro signed a decree to activate a process of constitutional reform, ensuring that the National Assembly has the “political and moral authority” to lead this reform without the need to submit it to popular scrutiny. Although Maduro did not provide the reasons behind this decision or the concrete changes that are planned, it is to be expected that he will bet on a political model to consolidate him in power. This would leave the opposition and citizens without local institutional tools to challenge the system, which poses a structural risk that must be prevented.
In short, the current political scenario is extremely dangerous and brings manifestations consistent with State Terrorism, as the IACHR has been denouncing, which should have already set off alarm bells in the international community. That is why responses must be in line with the new political reality that Venezuela is going through. AlertaVenezuela calls on States to redouble their diplomatic channels, as well as the mechanisms available in accordance with International Law, in order to: i) protect activists, defenders, journalists and any person persecuted for opposing the government; ii) support with coordinated high-level actions in the restoration of democracy and the rule of law; iii) promote solutions that have as their goal the guarantee of human rights.