Page 12 - Preliminary Report on the Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Crisis in the Region

described by Foro Penal as part of the regime’s practice of constantly jailing and releasing

23
prisoners.

Aside from incarceration (or forced exile), significant attacks and widespread, systematic
abuses are also committed against the civilian population, as documented by an independent

panel of experts convened by the Organization of American States. The report documents

evidence of murders, incarceration, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence,
persecution, and forced disappearance that demonstrate a pattern evidencing that these

crimes are perpetrated by the government. According to the report, many of these repressive

acts can be categorized as crimes against humanity in accordance with Article 7 of the Rome

Statute of the International Criminal Court based on sufficient evidence to satisfy the standard
24
of proof required by Article 53 of the Rome Statute.

It is reasonable to conclude that there is a State policy of anyone who disagrees with the

Maduro regime being systematically persecuted and made victims of abuse at the hands of the
State’s various security agencies, such as the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) and the

Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN). The nongovernmental organizations Foro Penal

and Human Rights Watch documented 53 cases of repression between April and September

2017, in which at least 232 individuals were subjected to physical and psychological abuse with

the purpose of incriminating and compromising other persons. Those NGOs determined that
the GNB and SEBIN perpetrated the majority of those abuses. They also concluded that torture

25
was used in several of those cases.

23 Foro Penal. “Foro Pena: Cifra de presos políticos asciende a 966, la más alta en la historia de Venezuela,”
February 4, 2019, https://foropenal.com/2019/02/04/foro-penal-cifra-de-presos-politicos-asciende-a-966-
la-mas-alta-en-la-historia-de-venezuela/.
24 Organization of American States. Report of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States
and the Panel of Independent International Experts on the Possible Commission of Crimes against Humanity in
Venezuela, May 29, 2018, http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/press/Informe-Panel-Independiente-
Venezuela-EN.pdf.
25 Organization of American States. Report of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States
and the Panel of Independent International Experts on the Possible Commission of Crimes against Humanity in
Venezuela, May 29, 2018, http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/press/Informe-Panel-Independiente-
Venezuela-EN.pdf.

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