The United States has accused Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran and China of committing human rights violations

The United States said on Wednesday Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran and China as a country where serious violations of human rights are committedand also highlighted the critical situation of these freedoms in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, in the annual report of the State Department on Human Rights.

The report, which refers to 2018 and serves as a reference for Congress when it provides foreign aid, contains information on some 200 countries of the world and identifies several ominous global trends, such as human trafficking, corruption and violations of civil liberties.

At a press conference, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, explained that the documentation on "abuses" serves to "bring change" to governments around the world and "put an end to their brutality."

"I would like to be able to say that this year's report is flawless, that it has improved the situation, but that's not the case. Take the example of Iran. Last year, the regime killed more than 20 people and arrested thousands of people without due process simply for protesting their rights. ", he said.

In its report, the State Department denounced "harsh tactics" against protesters during demonstrations in Iran, which began in December 2017, and said that Human rights organizations have reported thousands of arrests and "suspicious deaths" of detainees.

Also, in an ironic way, Pompeo felt that China "plays in its own league of human rights" and denounced the fact that the Chinese Communist regime has intensified its campaign against Muslim minorities, including Uyghurs and Kazakhs, and their internment in "re-education camps".

About, Michael Kozak, responsible for human rights of the state department, felt that these areas "seek to erase the DNA" and the "culture" of Muslim minorities in China and affirmed that it was one of the "most serious problems" that the world is facing today.

For its part, the report places special emphasis on the regimes of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in Latin America.

The United States badured that the Venezuelan regime increased crackdown after the failed attack with drones against the dictator Nicolás Maduro, citing as an example the detention of the deputy Juan Requesens, accused of being the accomplice of this attack.

The State Department stated that there is "credible information" about torture and abuse by Venezuelan security forceswho consider that they are "politicized" and influenced by Maduro's regime.

"The human rights situation is terrible, I think it is well documented in this report, this report only goes until the end of the year and the situation has worsened sincesaid Kozak.

In its report, the State Department cites 2000 cases of arbitrary arrests and 286 "political prisoners", documented by the NGO Penal Forum, which ensures that this figure, which dates from 18 November That's less than the 676 "political prisoners" produced the wave of protests in 2017.

The report also highlights the "increasingly authoritarian" character of the Venezuelan executive and criticized the "deeply fraudulent" May elections, in which Maduro was re-elected and allowed him to return to office on 10 January.

As the report corresponds to 2018, it does not include what has happened in the last few months after the proclamation of Juan Guaidó as interim president.

Pompeo discussed the protests that erupted on April 18, 2018 for social security reforms and became a cry for the resignation of the president. Daniel Ortega

"In Nicaragua, when citizens demonstrated peacefully to obtain their social security benefits, they ran into sniper fire. Critics of the government have been confronted with a policy of exile, prison or death, "said the Foreign Minister, stressing that" last year, human rights were are clearly degraded ".

As a result of Ortega's brutal crackdown on police and paramilitary forces – groups known as "crowds" – the United States reports at least 325 dead, more than 2,000 injured, hundreds of people illegally detained and tortured and more than 52,000 exiles in neighboring countries.

Among the human rights violations in Nicaragua, the report lists arbitrary killings by the government or its agents, enforced disappearances by auxiliary police forces, torture and badual abuse by officials, as well as arbitrary arrests. It also highlights the existence of "political prisoners", the arrest of journalists, censorship, "substantial" interference in the rights of peaceful badembly, attacks on the Catholic Church, "widespread" corruption, human trafficking, attacks on the LGBTI community, discrimination against ethnic minorities and indigenous communities, and child labor.

The United States has criticized the Cuban regime for "the majority of human rights violations in Cuba", among those who cited torture, censorship and arbitrary detentionand denounced the widespread nature of "impunity" for these violations.

Washington accuses "the authoritarian state" led by the Cuban leader, Miguel Díaz-Canelall kinds of rights violations: from "arbitrary killings" to "acts of torture" and "imprisonment" of dissidents, to "censorship" and restrictions on freedom of badociation.

"Government officials, under the leadership of their superiors, have committed the majority of human rights violations and have not investigated or prosecuted the perpetrators of these violations. The impunity of the perpetrators of these crimes continues to be generalized ", says the document, the first in which appears Díaz-Canel, who badumed the presidency of the country last April to replace Raúl Castro.

The State Department questioned the process leading up to the election of Díaz-Canel, as well as the parliamentary elections held in March 2018, stating that "No legislative elections or nations are considered free or fair."

The document also states that "members of the community and journalists from the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (Iclep) have reported an intensification of repression since the entry into force of the law. function of President Díaz-Canel ". Citing independent human rights groups, the United States felt that the number of political prisoners varies between 65 and 100.

The United States gives the example of "political prisoners" Eduardo Cardet, coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), arrested in November 2016, five days after the death of Fidel Castro, charged with badaulting the authorities and sentenced to three years in prison in March 2017.