We condemn the persecution of Provea and Venezuelan civil society

The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the police summons issued to human rights defender Oscar Murillo, General Coordinator of the Venezuelan Program of Education-Action in Human Rights (PROVEA), for an alleged investigation under the “Law Against Hatred,” as part of a repressive escalation by the Maduro regime aimed at criminalizing and suppressing human rights defense in Venezuela.

The police summons does not specify the origin or basis of the alleged investigation to be carried out by the Scientific, Criminal, and Criminological Investigation Corps (CICPC) for a “hate crime” in the city of San Cristóbal, Táchira state. This act is a consequence of the wave of threats and intimidation led by the Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, against defenders and organizations who requested an impartial investigation into the death of opposition leader, Edwin Santos. On October 30, Cabello had questioned Provea’s work on television and threatened to bring to justice all those “who claimed there were witnesses” to the detention of the opposition leader by state agents.

Between 2020 and 2024, the IACHR determined that PROVEA’s members are in a situation of risk in the framework of their work as human rights defenders, considering the constant accusations against them, as well as surveillance and monitoring by state agents. Among other mechanisms, the report on intimidation and reprisals against those who cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council included cases from 42 countries, among which Venezuela and Provea were featured.

After the questionable presidential elections on July 28, Venezuela entered a new cycle of political violence of unprecedented escalation and repercussion that, combining harsh repression with soft methods as highlighted by the UN Fact-Finding Mission, seeks to instill terror in society. The summons to Oscar Murillo is not only an individual attack or an attack on an NGO, but it represents an attempt to undermine society as a whole, censoring the questioning of power and any demand for justice and transparency in the midst of the post-electoral repression. In this sense, the work of civil society organizations is fundamental and must be fully guaranteed, as well as the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.

The State must cease the policy of political persecution against real or perceived dissent and cooperate with genuine justice regarding its case file for crimes against humanity that continues to be substantiated before the International Criminal Court. The documentation, denunciation, and dissemination of systematic human rights violations in Venezuela will continue hand-in-hand with the country’s and regional and international organizations that will support them until there is respect for popular sovereignty and accountability. It is for the thousands of victims that this mission prevails.

Find out which organizations signed this statement here