Human Rights Watch visits Venezuela after 18 years: ‘There is a kind of truce, but the state apparatus responsible for the abuses remains intact’

A team of directors and researchers from Human Rights Watch, made up of Federico Borello, Juan Papier, Juanita Goebertus, and Marina Rápido, spent last week in Caracas. It was the organization’s first visit in 18 years. On the previous occasion, its then-director, Chilean José Miguel Vivanco, was expelled by order of a furious Hugo Chávez after a critical report on the human rights situation, after which the NGO became a “tool of destabilization and foreign interference” in the eyes of Chavismo. It was Nicolás Maduro, then the country’s foreign minister, who told him: “Enough already, this is as far as you go: anyone who tries to meddle in Venezuelan internal affairs will receive the same treatment.”

In Venezuela in 2026, with Maduro gone and under U.S. oversight of Delcy Rodríguez’s government, rights defenders highlight “important signs of reduced repression” that, since that impasse with Chávez, had only gotten worse. “There is a pause, a kind of truce, but the state apparatus responsible for the abuses remains intact,” Borello said on Friday at a meeting with journalists, after a week of talks with diplomats, opposition figures from various factions, government representatives, and members of civil society.

The HRW team arrived in a week that saw a significant step toward liberalizing the country, such as lifting censorship on some digital news outlets blocked by the government. This took place the same day regional political leader Javier Oropeza, newly returned from exile, was arbitrarily detained by police after leaving an interview on a local radio station in the western city of Barquisimeto, only to be released hours later — and at the same time that the dialogue table between the 2015 National Assembly in exile and Chavismo resumed its second cycle of talks. They also found a country caught between opposing tensions.

Representatives of the Washington-based organization were received by interim president Rodríguez, to whom they stressed the need to implement short-term measures while the deep reforms announced for Venezuela’s re-institutionalization into a democratic system are carried out. “The actions we’ve seen are partial. Some prisoners have been released, but not all, or they are granted precautionary measures; some media outlets are unblocked, but not all,” Borello said. “We have told the interim president that there is a medium-term path that consists of institutional and legal reform, fundamental to making it harder for human rights violations like those that occurred to be repeated. But there is impatience among the population that wants short-term measures while those reforms are achieved.”

HRW has outlined a series of measures to build trust in the transition Washington is pushing. The “unconditional” release of all political prisoners and arbitrarily detained people is the first and most urgent. “There are people in prison who don’t know why, who have release orders and are still behind bars. The amnesty law helped some, but the category of people arbitrarily detained in this country is so vast and diverse that we recommend creating a technical commission to review cases with decision-making power.”

The second issue the delegation said was worrying is the detention conditions of inmates. “Rodeo prison, described as a torture center by all the relatives of prisoners, must be closed.” This week, the UN Fact-Finding Mission revealed new methods of torture identified in that prison, where most opposition politicians are confined, such as punishment in underground tanks. “When detention centers reach that level of abuse, they must be closed. We also call for the closure of clandestine detention centers across the country. We have geolocated some and will send them to the government.” HRW reiterates the request of the detainees’ families: the authorization of missions from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to inspect prison conditions and make regular unannounced visits.

Borello also recommended the government repeal or reform the anti-terrorism law, in addition to other legislation used to persecute dissent such as the law against hate. “If the anti-terrorism law is repealed, hundreds of cases of absurd and arbitrary detentions would be closed without the need for any commission.” HRW also said a reform of the security apparatus is urgently needed, since it is a key actor in the repressive machinery.

The NGO also spoke about the need to advance conditions for elections, which is on the agenda of the dialogue table between the government and the 2015 National Assembly, but which has not yet been discussed. “Venezuelans deserve to take part in timely, free, and fair elections,” Borello said. “That urgently requires allowing political opponents to participate in the political process and stand for public office.” HRW’s outreach aims to expand the organization’s presence in the country. The visit had been months in the making with some government representatives, and they expect to return before the end of 2026.

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