UN investigators dropped a report saying Venezuela's national guard has been running a decade-long campaign of extrajudicial killings, mass arrests, torture, and sexual violence against anyone protesting or opposing President Nicolás Maduro. The crackdown got way worse after the disputed election, when security forces detained over 2,000 people and killed at least 24 protesters who challenged Maduro's victory claim.
Authorities used terrorism charges to grab activists and opposition members without warrants during raids called Operation Tun Tun, holding them without lawyers and forcing some detained kids to record fake confessions. The same patterns showed up during protests back in 2014, 2017, and 2019, and investigators say the whole thing works because Venezuela's courts basically never hold security forces accountable for anything. The country ranked dead last on the World Justice Project's rule of law index, and the government still refuses to let UN monitors inside.
Authorities used terrorism charges to grab activists and opposition members without warrants during raids called Operation Tun Tun, holding them without lawyers and forcing some detained kids to record fake confessions. The same patterns showed up during protests back in 2014, 2017, and 2019, and investigators say the whole thing works because Venezuela's courts basically never hold security forces accountable for anything. The country ranked dead last on the World Justice Project's rule of law index, and the government still refuses to let UN monitors inside.
