Venezuela’s dictatorship is under more intense global scrutiny this week for both its human rights violations and multi-billion dollar corruption.
The global watchdog Human Rights Watch has issued a scathing new report on the Venezuelan regime’s repression following the presidential election it stole last summer. It accuses dictator-president Nicolás Maduro’s security forces and street thugs of killing and torturing dozens of Venezuelans who protested the massive fraud. It also urges the U.S. and the international community to ramp up sanctions against Maduro’s government.
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Human Rights Watch investigators said they conducted 100 interviews with victims, their relatives, eyewitnesses, and members of human rights groups, and analyzed more than 90 videos and photographs — documenting "human rights violations committed against protesters, bystanders, opposition leaders, and critics during the protests and over the months that followed."
"Human Rights Watch received credible reports of 25 killings during protests across the country immediately after the elections," he report said. "Most of these killings occurred on July 29 and 30, with most victims being under the age of 40 and from low-income neighborhoods.
"Credible evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch points to the involvement of Venezuelan security forces in some of these killings. In other cases, “colectivos” appear to be responsible."
Meanwhile, INRAV — a South Florida exile nonprofit that tracks the wealth Venezuela’s leftist revolution has stolen during its quarter-century-long rule — has released a new database: The Venezuela Loot Tracker.
It traces more than 70 U.S. Justice Department cases of embezzled and laundered funds, totaling $4 billion. The lion’s share of those cases are found in Florida where 90% of the corrupt Venezuelan money flowed.
