We, the undersigned, members of the Latin American Association of Criminal Law and Criminology (ALPEC) together with colleagues specialized in the study of violence, citizen security, criminal policy and human rights in the region, as well as activists, intellectuals and academics, express our deep concern at the intensification of institutional violence that has expanded during the last week in Venezuela, as a result of the hasty proclamation of Nicolás Maduro as President of the Republic, without having counted 100% of the votes, as required by the electoral legislation of the country, by a National Electoral Council totally controlled by the Executive power and which lacks national and international credibility. The opposition has more than 81% of the counted ballots and point to Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the winner, above Maduro by a 2 to 1 proportion. This denial of the popular will by the government generated a series of spontaneous protests, more than 500 throughout the country, to which the ruling coalition has responded in a violent, arbitrary and illegal manner.

The Venezuelan State has intensively implemented, as never before, all the repressive devices it has been designing and implementing during the last 12 years, such as the People’s Liberation Operations (OLP), the Special Actions Force (FAES), which have been characterized for having the highest police lethality rates in the region, as demonstrated by several academic studies and reports of international organizations, among them those of the Monitor of the Use of Lethal Force in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the reports of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.

In one week, more than 20 people have been killed, at least four by State security forces, others at the hands of plainclothes officers, who act as paramilitary gangs, popularly known as “colectivos“.

These lethal devices are complemented and fed by various disciplinary and neighborhood denunciation mechanisms, ranging from the Local Food Committees (CLAP), through the Hugo Chávez Battle Units (UBCH), the Network of Articulation and Sociopolitical Action (RAAS), and even cell phone applications such as VenApp for neighbors to anonymously denounce dissidents, opponents and demonstrators.

The permanent state of exception Venezuela has been enduring for years has intensified to new level; in the streets there is a state of siege, the military and police have checkpoints, where, among other things, they check the cell phones of citizens, and if they find any information alluding to the opposition candidate or his allied parties, they arrest them. Illegal searches, arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances have become common. After 6 pm it is no longer possible to circulate freely in the streets, anyone who does so is detained. Even a massive use of drones has been arranged to expand surveillance on citizens while terrorizing them, completely undermining freedom of movement and tranquility in the country. None of this has been formally decreed, everything is imposed de facto.

In the first four days after the elections, already more than 1,062 people were officially detained. Nicolás Maduro himself also informed that 1,000 more arrests were to come and that he was refurbishing two maximum security prisons to hold the demonstrators. The threat of being arrested for the “TUN TUN” (Knock knock) operations is constant. As has been common practice with political prisoners during the last years in the country, the detainees do not have the right to choose their own lawyer, they have been transferred to different places without informing their families about their whereabouts and incommunicado; massive virtual hearings are being held where responsibilities are not individualized, generic and diffuse criminal charges are applied (incitement to hatred, treason, terrorism, etc.). As is being documented by human rights organizations, by the citizens themselves who, in the face of media censorship, use social networks as a means of denunciation and communication, and by the few international media outlets that report from inside the country. Part of this is reflected in the pronouncement of the IACHR of last August 31: “Repression that replicates patterns observed in 2014 and 2017 in a context of absence of rule of law and democracy”.

As usual, this unlimited institutional violence is applied in a differentiated manner according to the social stratum: in the peripheral barrios of the cities it is more lethal. This unlimited exercise also brings as a consequence extortions and robberies by officials against their victims also becoming common during these days. The spoils are part of the reward.

The official discourse is stigmatizing and criminalizing against any dissidence, detainees are referred to as drug addicts and delinquents, they are publicly exhibited in a process of permanent dehumanization in order to try to socially and propaganda wise justify the violation of their human rights. They have also been exposed chanting slogans in favor of the government or asking for forgiveness in a sort of political re-education.

We demand, in this sense:

-The immediate cessation of these massive human rights violations against the population, and the adjudication of the corresponding criminal responsibilities to guarantee their non-repetition.

-That a credible and independent technical count and audit of all the tally sheets be carried out. The votes and the tally sheets, the acceptance of the results, are the path to peace.

August 5, 2024

(Original in Spanish)

Signatures

Germán Aller, Professor of Criminal Law and Director of the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Law School of the Universidad de la República, Uruguay

Fernando Tenorio Tagle, Director, Centro de Investigaciones Jurídicos Políticas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Mexico

Mauricio Stegemann Dieter, Professor of Criminology at the Law School of the University of São Paulo, Representative of ALPEC Brazil

Ana Cecilia Morun Solano, Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), Representative of ALPEC Dominican Republic

José Luis Guzmán Dalbora, Professor of Criminal Law. University of Valparaiso, Representative of ALPEC Chile

Fernando Tocora, Ex-Magistrate, Professor, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Representative of ALPEC Colombia

Hermes Ramírez Ávila, University Professor of Law. Representative of ALPEC Honduras

José Héctor Carreón Herrera, General Director of the Institute for the Study of Accusatory Criminal Procedure (INEPPA), Representative of ALPEC Mexico

Jorge Rossell Senhenn, Professor at UPEL, Postgraduate Professor at several Universities, Former President of the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). Representative of ALPEC Venezuela

Gabriela Gusis, Professor and researcher at the University of Buenos Aires. Member of ALPEC

Héctor Carreón Perea, Professor at the Law School of Universidad La Salle (Mexico City). Member of ALPEC

Keymer Ávila, Researcher at the Institute of Criminal Sciences of the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Director of the Monitor of the Use of Lethal Force in Venezuela (MUFLVEN). Member of ALPEC

Manuel Jorge Carreón Perea, Law School of the National Bar Association, Mexico. Member of ALPEC

María Eugenia Espinosa Mora, Sociologist, Political Criminologist, Academic of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Member of ALPEC

Adrián Torres Marcano, University Professor UCV/ Filosopaz/ Coordinator of the Culture of Peace and Social Dialogue Commission, UCV School of Education.

Alejandro Velasco, Associate Professor of Latin American History, New York University.

Ana Laura López. Sociologist. Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Member of the Study Group on Penal System and Human Rights.

Analía Ploskenos, Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA)

Andrés A. Fábregas Puig/CIESAS, Mexico. CLACSO Latin American and Caribbean Social Sciences Award

Andrés Izarra, Journalist, Founder and former President of TeleSUR

Ángel E. Álvarez. Political Science Professor and Co-Coordinator of the Observatory For Democracy in Latin America

Arnoldo Pirela, Researcher CENDES/UCV and IRD-CEPED, France

Benedicte Bull. Professor of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway

Benjamín Rivaya, Professor of Philosophy of Law, University of Oviedo, Spain

Byron Mauricio Acosta, Pueblos en Camino, Abya Yala

Camilo Pérez-Bustillo, International Tribunal of Conscience of the Peoples in Movement

Cantaura La Cruz, Sociologist and Anthropologist, Researcher, doctoral candidate at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes de Paris

Carlos Agelvis, Professor of the School of Sociology of the UCV

Carlos G. Torrealba M., Institute of Social Research, UNAM

Carlos Silva, Institute of Juridical Research, UNAM

Carlos Simón Bello Rengifo, Professor of Criminal Procedural Law, Head of the Department of Criminal and Criminological Sciences, Coordinator of the Academic Committee of the Doctorate in Sciences, mention in Law, UCV

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, President, WOLA

Catalina Pérez Correa APEPD, Mexico

Cecilia Zeledón, Professor of Human Rights, Director Universidad de la Tierra in Puebla, Mexico. Adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle.

Cristina Ochoa, Feminist activist from the western suburbs, Argentina.

David Smilde, Director, School of Sociology, Tulane University, New York, USA.

Derly Constanza Cuetia Dagua, Pueblos en Camino. Abya Yala

Edgardo Lander, Retired Professor, UCV. Citizen Platform in Defense of the Constitution (PCDC)

Edith López Hernández, Afro-Mexican Feminist Lawyer, Lawyer, Human Rights Defender

Eduardo Torres, Lawyer, Human Rights Defender

Edwin Zambrano Vidal, Lawyer, founder of the American Association of Jurists Venezuelan Chapter, Espacio CONSENSO

Elba Martínez Vargas. Internationalist UCV.

Emiliano Teran Mantovani, Professor/Researcher of the Center for Development Studies – UCV.

Emmanuel Rozental Klinger, Pueblos en Camino. Abya Yala

Enrique Lavín, Civil Engineer, In charge of projects Universidad de la Tierra, Puebla, Mexico

Estanislao Escalante Barreto, Professor National University of Colombia and Director of the School of Criminal Research and Thought

Fabiola Arroyo, Activist for the Venezuelan community in Peru

Fabiola Velasco, Researcher in Hispano-American studies, Sorbonne Université

Fabrice Andréani, Research professor, doctoral candidate in political science, University Lyon 2 (Triangle), France. Activist Aplutsoc, L’Aprés & New Popular Front.

Fernando Garlin Politis, Anthropologist, Université Paris Cité, France.

Gabriel Kessler, Sociologist. Conicet Researcher. Professor UNSAM and UNLP

Gabriela Colocho, Passionist Social Service, El Salvador

Gilles Bataillon, Sociologist, Professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, Director of the journal Amérique latine, Politique, Sociétés, Histoire

Gisela Kozak Rovero, Editor Letras Libres, writer, professor UCV

Giuseppe Cocco, Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Guillermo Aveledo, Professor of Political Studies UNIMET/UCV

Gustavo Márquez Marín, Citizen Platform in Defense of the Constitution (PCDC)

Haroldo Dilla Alfonso, Universidad Arturo Prat, Professor, Institute of International Studies (INTE) Chile

Héctor Bujanda, Coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Digital Journalism and Multimedia Project Management, Universidad Casa Grande, Chile

Héctor Navarro, Retired Full Professor, UCV, member of the PCDC

Héctor Silveira, Professor of Philosophy of Law at the Universitat de Barcelona

Iñaki Rivera Beiras, Full Professor at the UB, Director of the Observatory of the Penal System and Human Rights (OSPDH) of the same university.

Irina R. Troconis, Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies, Cornell University

Iván Vidal Tamayo, Lawyer and Academician

Jacqueline Richter, Professor at UCV

Javier Elechiguerra, Professor of Criminal Procedural Law and Constitutional Law, UCV. Former Attorney General and former Attorney General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Jean-Baptiste Mouttet, Journalist Editorial Director of Mediavivant

Jeannette Aguilar, Social researcher. El Salvador

Jesús Puerta. Professor UC. Critical Thinking Group

John Polga-Hecimovich, Political Scientist, U.S. Naval Academy.

Jorge Jiménez, B.A. in Economics BUAP, Mtro. in Administration BUAP. Instituto de Estudios Superiores del Estado, Mexico

José León Uzcátegui, Retired Full Professor. University of Carabobo. Critical Thinking Group

Juan Carlos Apitz, Dean of the Faculty of Juridical and Political Sciences of the UCV.

Juan Carlos La Rosa Velazco, Activist and Human Rights Defender, Researcher and Professor at UAIN-Wainjirawa.

Juan Cristóbal Castro, Professor at the Pontificia Universidad de Valparaíso

Juan Luis Sosa, Lawyer, Social Researcher. Director of A.C. Building Values for Coexistence

Keta Stephany, Professor at UCV, Information Secretary of the Federation of Associations of University Professors of Venezuela (FAPUV)

Laura Dib, Director of WOLA for Venezuela

Lina M. Torres Rivera, Sociologist-criminologist, Puerto Rico

Luis Arroyo Zapatero, President of the International Society for Social Defense (ISDS), Venezuela

Luis Duno-Gottberg, Professor, Rice University

Luz Ainaí Morales Pino, University Professor (Peru)

Luz Martínez, Social Worker, University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Magdalena López, Academic Researcher, University of Notre Dame and Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Brazil)

Magdymar León, Clinical psychologist, feminist, professor at UCV and Executive Coordinator of AVESA (Venezuelan Association for Alternative Sexuality Education)

Manuel Llorens, Professor at UCAB, Psychologist, researcher on issues related to violence, REACIN

Manuel Sutherland, Professor of Postgraduate Studies in Development at UCV. Director of the Centro de Investigación y Formación Obrera (CIFO)

Manuela Suarez Rueda, Researcher, security and rurality, Colombia

Marc Saint-Upéry, Journalist, translator, France/Ecuador

Marcela Aedo Rivera, Professor of Sociology of Law and Criminology, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile

María Gabriela Trompetero, Lecturer and Researcher, University of Bielefeld, Germany

María Josefina Ferrer. Researcher and Professor, UCV

Maria Puerta-Riera, Professor, Valencia College, Valencia, Chile

María Sol Pérez Shael, Writer, Political Scientist and Sociologist. Professor UCV, Caracas

Margarita López Maya, Venezuelan Professor and Historian.

Masaya Llavaneras Blanco, Assistant Professor, Huron University College (Canada)

Mercedes Muñoz Jiménez, Educator and President of the Board of Directors of AVESA

Mijail Vargas Valez, Lawyer, UGMA (Venezuela) and UBA (Argentina). Migrant in Argentina

Moisés Durán, Sociologist, UCV.

Nelson Freitez, Professor at Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado. Coordinator of the Chair of Rights of the same university and of the Human Rights Network of Lara State

Oly Millán Campos. Professor at UCV. Citizen Platform in Defense of the Constitution

Omar Vázquez Heredia, Academic researcher and university professor

Oscar Murillo, General Coordinator of PROVEA

Pablo Glanc, Doctor en Derecho por la Universidad de Buenos Aires

Patricia Parra Hurtado, Politóloga de la UCV, migrante en Argentina

Paula Ossietinsky, Abogada de DDHH, Universidad de Buenos Aires

Paula Poncioni, Professora aposentada da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

Paula Rigoni, Abogada de la Universidad Nacional de la Matanza (UNLAM), maestranda en la Maestría en Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Nacional de Lanús (UNLa)

PROVEA

Rafael Osío Cabrices, Journalist

Rafael Uzcátegui, Sociologist and Human Rights Ombudsman

Rafael Venegas, Professor UCV

Raquel Rivas Rojas, writer, translator and university lecturer, Edinburgh

Ricardo Sucre Heredia, Political scientist, analyst and political consultant

Roberto Carlés, Lecturer at the University of Buenos Aires

Roberto López Sánchez, Professor at the University of Zulia. Citizen Platform in Defense of the Constitution

Sabine Kurtenbach, German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany.

Silvana Ablin, Professor of Latin American History, University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

Temblores Ong (Colombia)

Tisbe Cázares Mejía, International Human Rights Lawyer, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de México

Virginie Baby-Collin, Professor of geography, Aix Marseille université, France. Co-director of the Cahiers des Amériques latines.

Vilma Rocío Almendra Quiguanas, Pueblos en Camino. Abya Yala

Vladimir Aras, PhD Professor of Criminal Procedural Law, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

WOLA

William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara

Yanet Rosabal Navarro, Sociologist. Associate Researcher, Government and Policy Analysis (GAPAC)

Ymay Ortiz Pulgar, former Director of the Human Rights Unit, Gender Violence, Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office

Yves Sintomer, Professor of Political Science, University of Paris 8. Center de recherches sociologiques et politiques de Paris (CRESPPA, CNRS/Université de Paris 8/Université Paris Nanterre). Associate Member, Maison française d’Oxford, Nuffield college, University of Oxford

Originalmente publicado en: Venezuelan Voices