Amnesty International has documented how the Venezuelan state has committed serious human rights violations, such as torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, during public order operations for decades ¹⁶. Today, the state is still failing to change its response regarding maintaining public order and the use of force.

According to Amnesty International’s analysis, the various security plans implemented by the Venezuelan authorities between 2000 and 2017:

• That adopt comprehensive, preventive and potentially effective approach were displaced by highly repressive and excessive measures. The ministers responsible for public security remained in office for an average of a year and five months, which may be one of the reasons for the lack of continuity regarding the implementation of public security policies.
• Have been guided by a heavy-handed logic that considers crime that poses crime as an “internal enemy.”
• Have prioritized the use of repressive methods with reactive police operations to combat crime during which illegal searches, extrajudicial executions and torture were reported.
• Have been influenced by a military approach to policing, in the framework of which excessive and abusive force has been regularly used and, in some cases, lethal force with the intent to kill has been used.
• Renew problematic measures that employ the same mechanisms and procedures, which in addition to generating human rights violations are ineffective in reducing homicides. Regardless of what the plan is called, it is essentially the same excessive measures that generate abuses and do not work.

What is the outcome for a criminal? Either prison or six feet under. Because that is a criminal's final destination.¹⁷ Head of Regional Command No. 5 deployed in the framework of the Bicentenary Security Plan (DIBISE), 2010

The Operation Liberation and Protection of the People (OLP) is one of the most recent examples of repressive operations implemented by the authorities, which was purportedly aimed at "freeing" communities by protecting them from the criminal violence committed by criminal gangs. Military units participated in the implementation of this plan which resulted in thousands of cases of serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and infringements of the rights to privacy, physical integrity and due process. It is also worrying that senior government officials have reported "the killing of criminals" as a "success" during some of these operations.

“Of the 12 states in the country where the OLP¹⁸ has been deployed, the combat report is as follows: deployed officers, 16,799; people arrested for various crimes, 931, of which 113 are foreigners; gangs broken up together with their leadership, 27; criminals killed during clashes...52.”¹⁹. Minister for Internal Affairs, Justice and Peace, 12 August 2015

In the framework of the OLP, the majority of deaths occurred in states of the north-coastal region of the country and in Bolívar state, where the highest homicide rates are also concentrated. This suggests that the highest number of operations or the most lethal operations were carried out in the areas that report the highest rates of violence: violence was responded to with more violence.

According to the Attorney General's Office ,²⁰ between 2015 and June 2017 there were 8,292 alleged extrajudicial executions: in 2015 there were 1,777 alleged extrajudicial executions, representing 10% of the total homicides that year ;²¹ in 2016 it was reported that 4,667 people had died at the hands of the security forces, which corresponds to 22% of all homicides ;²² and between January and June 2017, it was revealed that 1,848 people had been killed by the security forces ²³.

Furthermore, The Venezuelan NGO Committee of Relatives of Victims of the Events of February and March of 1989 (COFAVIC) has documented 6,385 cases of extrajudicial executions that occurred between 2012 and 2017 and the numbers are increasing. In 2016, 2,379 cases were recorded, 70% more than in the previous year. Once again, research confirms that the great majority of these victims were men under 25 and from poor neighbourhoods. In the first quarter of 2017 there had already been an increase of 11% in recorded extrajudicial executions compared to the same period in 2016.²⁴

The Venezuelan State, in addition to failing in its obligation to guarantee and protect the right to life and personal integrity, when for decades it has implemented ineffective policies to reduce violence, It violates human rights when it reacts to violence with more violence.

Who are the victims of extrajudicial executions?

Amnesty International documented eight cases of extrajudicial executions between 2012 and 2017 that highlight the impacts of institutional violence in a way that statistics cannot. These cases reveal a clear pattern:

• They were young men aged between 16 and 29.
• They were fathers of small children.
• They helped support the family financially.
• They lived in poor neighbourhoods.
• Most had completed secondary education.
• They were workers: taxi drivers, waiters, cooks, mechanics.
• They were often killed in front of their relatives and children.
• Their deaths occurred in the context of security operations.
• They died of gunshot wounds to the front of their bodies –thorax, neck, and head.

AFTER RAIDS, THREATS AND EXTORTION, DARWILSON WAS EXTRAJUDICIALLY EXECUTED IN FRONT OF HIS FAMILY

'¿QUÉ LE HIZO MI HIJO A ELLOS PARA QUE ME LO MATARAN? '

'TANTO CUIDARLOS PARA QUE LOS MATEN EN MI CASA'.

'THERE IS NO REASON FOR THEM TO DISPOSE THE WEAPON, THAT SHOULD BE THE LAST MEASURE AND HERE THERE IS NO DEATH PENALTY'.

Waiting for justice: the struggle against impunity and for reparation

In addition to suffering the death of family members, surviving victims must contend with a criminal justice system with high levels of impunity and riddled with irregularities and obstacles, which leads to the failure to investigate, prosecute and convict those responsible for gun violence and homicides. According to the Committee of Relatives of Victims of the Events of February and March of 1989 (COFAVIC), impunity in cases of human rights violations in Venezuela reach 98%.²⁵

In the cases included in this report, certain patterns of denial of justice have been identified, ranging from failures in the initial stages of investigation to harassment, threats and mistreatment of victims' relatives by staff of the Attorney General's Office and from the courts:

• In many cases, officials of bodies responsible for forensic investigations, namely of the Forensic Criminal Investigations Police (CICPC), are those who carry out the killings.
• Officials under investigation always remain on active duty.
• There is a significant delay by the CICPC in handing over key documentation that would enable the investigation to progress and no effective response from prosecutors.
• Some relatives said that they have been told by prosecutors to look for witnesses and evidence themselves.
• In cases where accusations have been made, the investigation stagnates and the case seldom reaches trial. The identification of those responsible does not translate into obtaining justice.
• The practice of repeatedly changing prosecutors also creates delays in the process.
• Relatives and their lawyers do not have access to case files or some key documentation, either because prosecutors do not issue copies in a timely manner, or because the relatives do not have the resources to pay for them (relatives have to pay for copies which as of May 2018 cost almost the monthly minimum wage).
• It is common for relatives to receive threats and mistreatment, including from prosecutors, to try to make them abandon their search for justice.
• In cases of harassment and threats, the protection measures requested by the families are not granted.

None of the victims interviewed for this report had received comprehensive reparation, including financial compensation and psychological assistance. Relatives experience long-term economic effects following the killing of a family member. In the case of mothers, many are housewives, do not have formal employment, are unemployed, because of the economic crisis, work in the informal sector (home businesses, street vendors or domestic jobs), or earn the minimum wage and do not have sufficient income to support their families. In the cases documented by Amnesty International, the majority of the victims helped support the family financially. The loss of a relative becomes more significant in the current context of a serious economic crisis in which hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicines particularly affect those in the most vulnerable and socially excluded communities.

The failure to provide comprehensive reparation, including not only access to justice, but also financial compensation and psychosocial support, further entrenches impunity and also deepens the social exclusion of victims' families, perpetuating cycles of revictimization for the thousands of families whose rights have been violated in the context of public security operations.

ARACELIS SÁNCHEZ | © 2018 Amnistía Internacional | Laura Rangel

Conclusions and recommendations

Violence and the abusive use of force are among the main human rights challenges that Venezuela has been unable to resolve. Gun violence and crime result in high homicide rates and thousands of victims each year, most of which are young men living in poverty. These homicides, although committed by individuals, are ultimately the responsibility of the state, which has a duty to act appropriately and with due diligence to prevent them through the investigation and punishment of those responsible for these deaths. Venezuela has also failed to publish statistics regarding public security and to deal effectively with the availability of guns in society at large, which has a direct impact on armed violence.

Amnesty International, in addition to identifying different flaws in government policies, is extremely concerned at the authorities' support for the intentionally lethal use of force and extrajudicial executions targeting mostly young men living in poverty. Such actions stem from an approach which sees these young men, by virtue of their social profile, as criminals and subsequently portrays them as "internal enemies" to be eradicated. In the context of public order operations and law enforcement, the authorities have an obligation to guarantee respect for the physical integrity and life of all and, when appropriate, to arrest those suspected of committing crimes and breaching the law.

It is imperative that the authorities in charge of public security radically change their approach to public security. A policy is needed that puts human rights at the centre, with clear deterrent approaches, effective oversight mechanisms and support for those living a situation of social exclusion, who are most at risk of abuses. State policy must also include an effective system of gun control that is transparent, can be monitored by civil society and that genuinely prevents corruption and weapons being diverted back into circulation.

Amnesty International, therefore, calls on the Venezuelan authorities to adopt the following recommendations:

• Refute messages that support the policy of repression, including the abusive and intentionally lethal use of force against young people living in poverty.
• Implement a policy of transparency and disclosure regarding information to enable appropriate public policy and measures to be adopted (both preventive measures to address violence, as well as police reform and reducing the number of guns in circulation) and to enable civil society organizations to exercise a social oversight role.
• Initiate immediate and urgent investigations into the cases detailed in this report and create a mechanism for prioritizing investigation and punishment of extrajudicial executions.
• Ensure that police act in accordance with the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
• Resume implementation of the measures to reduce the number of guns in circulation recommended by CODESARME and strengthen policy on the control and regulation of arms.
• Agree to visits by the special procedures of the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights whose mandates are relevant to the concerns set out in this report.