Venezuelan security forces have systematically wielded excessive force to suppress protests, killing dozens, and have arbitrarily detained 5,000 people since April, including 1,000 still in custody, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday.
It called on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to rein in security forces and investigate alleged abuses and release people from arbitrary detention.
On Friday, Venezuela inaugurated a new legislative superbody that is expected to rewrite the constitution and give vast powers to Maduro’s ruling Socialist Party, defying protests and worldwide condemnation that it undermines democratic freedoms.
“We are concerned that the situation in Venezuela is escalating and these patterns of human rights violations are showing no signs of abating,” U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.
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