Are Opposition Protesters Being Tortured In Venezuela? New Accusations Presented Before UN

AFP reported on Monday that Juan Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, says the organization has received new accusations of “very, very serious” torture carried out by Venezuelan authorities on members of the opposition who have participated in widespread protests against the government in February and March. Méndez, who presented a report to the Human Rights Counsel on Monday, said that among a plethora of reports of excessive force, two or three had described “very severe” torture. “We want this to be investigated in depth,” he added.

The accusations come weeks after the Foro Penal Venezolano, a non-profit human rights watchdog based in Venezuela, announced on Feb. 24 that in the 12 days of protests occurring in cities across the country, it had verified 18 reports of possible torture by authorities against protestors. In one, the mother of an anonymous 23-year-old law student in Caracas reported that her son had been electrocuted, beaten with sticks, and nearly asphyxiated with a plastic bag by the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), in addition to being told that his mother and sister were being raped.

In another complaint from protestor Juan Manuel Carrasco, National Guard soldiers were said to have beaten the 21-year-old with batons and forced him to strip before raping him with a rifle. The Foro Penal has presented a medical examination carried out by a doctor after Carrasco was released which the group says contains evidence of the sexual abuse. But Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz has dismissed that claim, saying when Carrasco was examined by a doctor during his apprehension, he did not mention the abuse. And President Nicolás Maduro has denied that torture has ever taken place, telling international journalists in late February, “In Venezuela people aren’t tortured, nor are rights violated, and if an official is found to do so, we investigate the official and report him to the department of justice. Here, human rights are respected.”