Human Rights Watch Director for the Americas ran into Maduro regime’s foreign minister after calling him “shameless”

The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) for the Americas, José Miguel Vivanco, on Wednesday ratified the harsh report published on Monday on the situation on the border between Venezuela and Colombia after a difficult exchange with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the regime of Nicolás Maduro, Jorge Arreaza.

The organization denounced that Venezuelan security agents have committed aberrant abuses against the local population during a weeks-long operation against armed groups in the Apure region.

Almost immediately came the response from Venezuela, through Arreaza, who in a post on his Twitter account defined the report as “Infamous” and called “cheeky” Vivanco.

“This is the response of Maduro’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, to our report on the new atrocities committed by the regime, this time on the border with Colombia. Just nonsensical epithets and conspiracy theories. Arguments? Nothing”Vivanco responded by quoting the tweet.

The Chavista picked up the glove and clicked: “The only atrocity is to present an irresponsible report to promote intervention”.

“… Here are the atrocities committed by his regime in Apure: 1) Extrajudicial executions 2) Torture 3) Arbitrary detention and prosecution of civilians before military courts ”Vicando retorted, listing some of the complaints in the organization’s report.

Arreaza, meanwhile, accused Human Rights Watch of being funded by the US Congress, as well as by “shady” businessmen in that country.

“HRW he receives no dollars from the US Congress or from any government. We also do not receive funding from “dark businessmen” or human rights violators “Vivanco answered again. “Rather, you represent a regime responsible for these atrocities,” he added, again citing the report.

The organization made its allegations in the context of the offensive launched in March by the regime of Nicolás Maduro against irregular groups in Apure and requested to investigate the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission in Venezuela to investigate the matter.

In the report, HRW assured that the Venezuelan operation “led to the the execution of at least four peasants, the arbitrary detentions, the prosecution of civilians in military courts and the torture of residents accused of collaborating with armed groups ”.

“The atrocities committed against the inhabitants of Apure are not isolated incidents committed by insubordinate agents, but are compatible with the systematic abuses of Maduro’s security forcesVivanco said in the report.

The past On March 21, members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) began fighting in Apure against irregular groups that the authorities have never identified, but that the NGO Fundaredes has qualified as suspected dissidents of the dissolved Colombian guerrilla FARC.

The conflict lasted almost three weeks and caused the displacement of more than 6,000 Venezuelans to Colombia, according to data from the aforementioned organization.

The FANB assured that the offensive had left eight dead and nine “terrorists”, as well as more than 40 detainees.

HRW alleges in its report that many detainees “were not members of armed groups”, but of the local population, after interviewing 38 people who had fled Apure, in addition to 30 lawyers, forensic experts, community leaders, journalists, Colombian authorities and representatives of humanitarian groups.

The displaced persons interviewed identified as responsible for the abuses of FANB, the Special Actions Forces (FAES) of the Bolivarian National Police, the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) and the National Command Against Extortion and Kidnapping (CONAS).

With information from EFE

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