(Credit: MARTIAL TREZZINI / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) -
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed her concern about the deaths of young people in marginalized neighborhoods in the context of security operations in Venezuela.
In a statement before the Human Rights Council this Friday from Geneva, he pointed out that his office registered 711 deaths of this type from June to August, reaching more than 2,000 since January 2020. In its update, it covers the period from On July 2 so far, Bachelet also recognized measures that he described as positive, such as the pardon for 110 people by the questioned President Nicolás Maduro, the release of 40 and greater cooperation with his office.
During this time, it documented alleged cases of repression in peaceful protests within the framework of the state of alarm against covid-19, declared in March.
He concluded by recommending that in the coming months the civic and democratic space be protected and the release of all persons deprived of liberty "for demanding their rights" continue.
"I call to continue working on the construction of agreements to reach conditions for the development of credible, free, inclusive and equitable electoral processes," he concluded.
Venezuela's response
In his response, the representative of the Venezuelan government Jorge Valero began by rejecting the imposition of resolutions against Venezuela in that council.
He stated that, although they take note of the concerns expressed by the High Commissioner in her presentation, it lacks balance.
He said that it has methodological flaws and biased information fed by the "media campaign against Venezuela."
"These hostile initiatives are designed to artificially maximize the challenges that any country in the world faces in the field of human rights by misrepresenting the truth of what really happens on the ground," he said.
Reactions to Bachelet's pronouncement
"We want to support the report delivered today by Michelle Bachelet," said Andrés Allamand Zavala, Chile's foreign minister.
“The report insists that human rights are systematically violated in Venezuela and provides a dramatic figure.
He points out that only so far this year there are 2,000 people who have died at the hands of security agencies.
It is evident that, in such a context, the elections that the Maduro regime has called for the month of December do not have conditions of legitimacy and for this reason we want to reiterate that the peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela involves free, transparent and presidential elections. subject to its international surveillance. '
Michelle Bachelet
