Police brutality in Venezuela

Extrajudicial Executions
2020
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents
1. Executive Summary

2.- Introduction

3.- Problematic / Contextualization

4.- Legal framework

5.- Research methodology

6.- Documentation Development

7.- Monitoring Development

8. Research Results

9.- Special Reports

10 .- Conclusions

 
 

I.- Executive summary
The excessive strength use by State security corps officers constitute rights human 
violations of  to humane treatment and life . With the implementation of a “strong hand”
policy by the Venezuelan State, the increase in extrajudicial executions is alarming.

Extrajudicial execution is defined as the intentional homicide committed by a state officer

through abuse of the power conferred by the position to commit the crime and, eventually,
seek impunity , or by individuals who act under his order, complicity or acquiescence. The
participation of a State officer as an active agent of the crime constitutes a violation of
human rights, which is more serious and pernicious when it corresponds to a recurring
pattern of action.

Proiuris' research field widens and covers the states of Lara and Aragua , as well as
Caracas , regions in which the patterns of excessive police-military action
identified by Proiuris  were verified [1]  through previous investigations.

To contrast the officer versions , Proiuris collected the versions of relatives and witnesses

from a Guide for Respectful Approach to the Victims of Presumed Extrajudicial
Executions , which serves as a methodological guideline for the documentation of this type
of human rights violations and includes provisions to avoid revictimization .

Proiuris directly documented 155 cases of presumed extrajudicial

executions in Caracas and Aragua and Lara states, between December 1, 2019 and May
22, 2020. Two massacres and the recurring actions of five security forces were
reported. of national jurisdiction : FAES [2] , Cicpc[3] , Conas ,[4] GNB[5] and
GNP[6] , as well as two regional security forces : Lara Police and
Sucre Municipality Police ( Miranda state ) .

in this study period was detected  that 71.61% of the murders are committed by two
security forces, the FAES in a first place with 48.39% of the cases and the CICPC in a
second place with 23.22%. A sustained increase in the cases perpetrated by the
CICPC was evidenced , from December 2019 to May 2020.
Proiuris. La Faes Mata, Patrones. Noviembre 2019. Disponibles en:
https://proiurisac.wixsite.com/lasfaesmatan/patrones
Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales de la Policía Nacional Bolivariana (FAES)
Cuerpo de investigaciones Científicas Penales y Criminalísticas (CICPC)
Comando Nacional Antiextorsión y Secuestro (CONAS)
Guardia Nacional Bolivariana (GNB)

Based on the 16 action patterns of the state  security forces detected and demonstrating
the systematization of this phenomenon  by Proiuris , it is corroborated the coincidence
of the 80.05% of the cases studied and in 6 of the patterns are in agreement of the
100% (young men, poor areas, no search warrant, alleged confrontation, alteration of the
crime scene and impunity).

Proiuris also made a monitoring environment on extrajudicial executions in Venezuela

after reviewing press reports ending in deaths   on policing and military. 1,083 victims of
alleged extrajudicial executions were identified, according to information published in
the digital media of 23 Venezuela states, between December 1 , 2019 and May 22, 2020.

I I.- Introduction
The systematic death increase at the hands of officers of the Venezuelan State  security
forces ratifies the need to continue documentation excesses in the use of public force.

Proiuris has developed an investigation line to the rights to personal integrity and

life threats in Venezuela , which has allowed us to directly document cases of alleged
extrajudicial executions . Since May 2019, Proiuris has documented 206 cases of
extrajudicial executions in Caracas and Aragua and Lara states.

At first, testimonies of surviving victims relatives and witnesses, which generally

are narrative  antagonistic to the officer versions, are collected and disseminated . And
besides, the documentation is strengthened with legal accompaniment.

Proiuris shares widespread perception  abot impunity for power abuses attributed to the

State security forces; simply because the organization has been able to corroborate that in
most cases the Public Ministry doesn`t undertake and develop efficient investigations to
clear up doubts , as required by Venezuelan law.

It is a problem present throughout Venezuela. As a means of control, Proiuris carries out

daily monitoring of the environment. Since May 2019 has been detected more than 1,352
alleged extrajudicial executions reported by media in all 23 Venezuela states and the
Capital District. 

In advancing our line of investigation on extrajudicial executions in Venezuela, we have

identified 16 patterns of action by the security forces, as well as the emergence of new
perpetrators, based on direct cases documentation.

From Proiuris , the experience accumulated over two years , through a  Respectful of

Victims of Extrajudicial Executions approach guidance and also legal assistance protocols
has been systematized. Both tools aim to avoid the re-victimization that occurs due to an
inappropriate approach to people, as well as the normalization of the abuses derived from
a feeling of helplessness in the face of an inefficient and indolent justice administration
system .

This report will present the investigation  results as well as details on methodology for

collecting and processing information and accompanying the surviving victims .

III.- Problematic / Contextualization
Through a regular and detailed analysis of the social, political and economic situation in
Venezuela, Proiuris has warned that the deepening of authoritarianism and repression in
Venezuela is endemic and threatens the full enforcement of human rights . In this
context, there has been a sustained increase in extrajudicial executions. The deaths of
Venezuelans at the hands of state security forces merit persistent documentation ,
reporting and dissemination efforts . The testimonies and data collected by Proiuris point
to a systematic policy of police abuse that goes to the extreme of extrajudicial executions.

The inaction of the Public Ministry worsens the situation. Proiuris , through the
investigation “100 Death Sentences[7] ", verified that police brutality is based on a rhetoric
plagued with euphemisms (" neutralized "," killed "," discharged ") that hide abuses in the
use of public force. In almost all cases, the officer versions indicate that the policemen
limited themselves to repelling the attack by alleged criminals, while the legal classification
of the events as "resistance to authority" completes a story that attempts to legitimize the
extrajudicial executions.

Proiuris determined that 85% of the cases of alleged extrajudicial executions are not
investigated. Tarek William Saab , appointed by the so-called “National Constitutional
Assembly” as Republic General Attorney, revealed that from August 2017 to June 2019
there were 6,709 prosecutors pronouncements in investigations on human rights
violations, of which only 261 correspond to accusations. If the Prosecutor's Office has only
charged in 3.89% of the cases, 96% of the alleged human rights violators could be under
impunity.

One of the main findings of Proiuris at this stage of documentation of CICPC  alleged
extrajudicial executions is increasing  lethal actions , which is the responsible corp  for
conducting investigations of the killings, even if they are hidden under the legal figure of
"resistance to authority" . The regional police participation in these types of cases has also
increased.

As if that were not enough, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic , the FAES have

developed public order control tasks that suppose an additional threat. Proiuris has
witnessed the excessive performance of the FAES in popular Catia and Petare sectors, in
the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, with the excuse of enforcing the physical distancing
measures ordered by the country's health authorities.

IV.- Legal framework
Venezuela is a country where there is no death penalty, but the practice of alleged
extrajudicial executions responds to the warlike logic promoted by the highest government
authorities.

In Venezuela, the use of public force is strictly defined in the Constitution, which enshrines
the right to life as the highest value of the legal system and the performance of the state.

In the Constitution 43th Article is established: "The right to life is inviolable. No law can

establish the death penalty, nor can any authority apply it. The State shall protect
people's lives that are in deprived of liberty, providing military or civilian service, or under
its authority in any way. "

This constitutional mandate governs the regulation of the use of public force , which is

developed in the Organic Law of the Bolivarian National Police and Police Service
(LOSPCPNB), in force since 2009. This law includes a chapter
dedicated and specifically to the regulation of the use of force by officers of the State
security forces.

From Article 68 to 72 of the mentioned Law , the guidelines are established for all the
security forces of the country that exercise police functions. Therefore, the life of citizens is
an absolute right and the police must guarantee it.

Article 1 of the “Norms for the Progressive Use of Police Force” (NUPDFP), indicates: “For
such purposes, it will be used in a necessary, progressive and differentiated manner
based exclusively on the resistance level and opposition manifested by the person to
prevent, obstruct or enervate a police intervention, reducing the use of physical force to
the minimum required for effective containment, reducing the probability of causing injury
or damage, whether physical or moral, based on the legality, necessity and proportionality
principles”.

Specifically on federal entities under study there are citizen security ordinances requiring a
proportionate, progressive and differentiated public force use.

Lara´s Iribarren Municipality (Barquisimeto), Municipal Gazette No. 1330 of December 22,
1998, ordains the creation of Municipal Police Autonomous Institute, which is established
as a guiding principle of human rights respect and guarantee.

In Aragua`s Girardot Municipality (Maracay) Municipal Gazette No. 22.106 of October 22,

2019, state Police Autonomous Institute establishes that the police have as their superior
value the protection of the Constitution, the fundamental principles of rights protection and
faithful compliance with law in force in national territory, as well as regional decrees and
ordinances in specific matters.

Extrajudicial killings constitute a crime against humanity when they are systematically,

widespread or selectively applied  on the basis of discrimination for political reasons,
social, economic, religious, racial or gender.

Extrajudicial execution is not classified as an autonomous crime in Venezuelan

law. However, a pro homine interpretation, based on 23rd Constitution article referring to
the preferential of the most favorable human rights protection standards application, would
allow the investigation and prosecution of this type of abuse of State power. In this regard,
judges must enforce international instruments such as the Principles relating to an
effective prevention and investigation of extralegal, arbitrary or summary
executions [8] , the Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extralegal,
Arbitrary or Summary Executions , [9] as well as the methodological guidelines of
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary
Executions . [10]

Resistance to authority crime is established in Venezuelan Penal Code 215th article, in the
following terms: “Anyone who threatens a public officer or one of his close relatives, in
order to intimidate him to do or stop doing something proper to his duties, he will be
punished with imprisonment from one to three years. If the act is made out with violence,
the penalty will be two to four years. When the events described in the previous section
were carried out to the detriment of a senior officer of those provided for in Constitution of
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela article 266th paragraph 3rd, the penalty will be two to
five years. If the threat or act of violence is carried out at the public officer domicile or
residence, the penalties will be increased by one third. If the author of the crime is a public
officer, the corresponding penalty will be increased by two-thirds”.

“Authority Resistance" is the legal qualification that, generally, the State security forces
advance to cover up alleged extrajudicial executions. The legal logic consists in the
application of defenses of criminal responsibility; in this case of an
homicide, alleging compliance with duty and legitimate defense. However, as referred to in
the definition of extrajudicial execution, the power abuse that leads to the death of a
person can be coupled with mechanisms of impunity.

In fact, Venezuelan Penal Code 220th article establishes exemptions but in the opposite
direction: "The penalties provided for in the preceding articles will not be applied if the
public officer has caused the act by exceeding the limits of his powers with arbitrary acts."

Based on the documentation of alleged extrajudicial executions carried out by Venezuelan

and international human rights organizations, the alleged aggression of the alleged
criminal against the state officer, summarized as a “confrontation” in the officer versions,
can operate as an alibi to cover up an extrajudicial execution.

In Venezuela there are controversial sub-legal regulations , such as Ministry of Defense

Resolution 08610, which allows the use of lethal force in the control of citizen
demonstrations.

Resolution 0 8610, issued on January 23, 2015 and published in the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela Official Gazette Number 40,589, on January 27, 2 015, establishes the Norms
on the performance of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces in functions of control of
public order, social peace and citizen coexistence in public meetings
and demonstrations . It was approved by the Minister of Defense, General in Chief ( Ex. )
Vladimir Padrino López , and ratified by the Political-Administrative Chamber of the
Supreme Court of Justice, through ruling No. 00840, issued on July 27, 2016 .

Resolution 08610 allows the deadly force use  to control peaceful demonstrations and

protests, which violates the prohibition established in Constitution 68th Article. The use of
deadly force by military personnel is only foreseen in situations of internal or external
armed conflict.

With this resolution, the control of public order , which was the responsibility of the citizen
security organs and exceptionally of the National Guard , dangerously extends to all
components of the National Armed Forces.

 
V. Research methodology 

5. - 1.- Direct documentation

The process for data collecting, information processing, monitoring and construction of
indicators is detailed below. The research approach from Proiuris is qualitative, however
may present data for quantitative analysis.

Data collecting method

Proiuris uses three methods for collecting information that were used in this research:

1. Survey : Based on the technical hexameter of Quintiliano, a questionnaire (research

instrument) is prepared to produce a database of complaints of human rights
violations . This questionnaire is applied during the first contact with the complainant to
specify: What happened? Who is involved in the event? How did it happen? At what time
did it happen? Where did it happen? what happened? Additionally, will collect personal
and contact the complainant to enrich the data and deepen into the information. 

2. Semi-structured interview: This technique is used to document depth of the attended

case. Using a script of interview, the interviewer inquires about the fact
happened (circumstances of time, place and manner) for the production of stories written
or audiovisual is to serve the work of reporting and disclosure .

3 . Documentary observation: Alleged extrajudicial executions press reviews are

monitored in 44 digital media ( El Sol de Margarita, El Pitazo, El Nacional, Diario la
Región, El Universal, Efecto Cocuyo, El Siglo, El Tiempo, Diario el Tiempo , La Verdad de
Vargas, El Carabobeño, La Calle, El Periodiquito, La Prensa de Lara, El Informador, Diario
Panorama, Final Version, La Nación Web, Diario Frontera, Diario Caribazo , Correo del
Caroní, Diario Primicia, La Verdad de Monagas , Diario Ultima Hora Digital, El Periódico
de Occidente, El Periódico del Delta, El Diario de Guayana, Notidiario , El Periódico de
Monagas, Latest News, Extra Venezuela, NotiFalcon , News Now, Valencia City, Noticiero
de Venezuela, Notitarde , El Aragueño , Diario 2001, La Jornada de Guárico, Digital
Newscast, La Hora, Nuevo Día, Las No ticias de Cojedes, Noticias 24) from the 23 states
of Venezuela and the Capital District. Through this monitoring, information is located,
compiled, and reviewed to quantitatively analyze police actions that culminate in death . 

Data Organization         

1. For the survey: The data obtained from the survey are registered at the first
approach with the informants, reported in a spreadsheet, which are
classified cases according to the violated law, not observed  guarantees
 and processing  form. The data is verified and complemented by the different
communication channels that Proiuris has after the first approach.
This first approach is carried out through periodic visits made
by Proiuris researchers to the Forensic Medicine of Bello Monte in
Caracas, to the "Antonio María Pineda" morgue in Barquisimeto, Lara, and to
the Caña de Azúcar Morgue in Maracay, Aragua.  This can be done in a more
comfortable place for the victim to agree, according to the privacy and security
requirements that the person giving us the interview may demand.

The survey questions are coded. In the case of closed questions, the code is assigned by
the same instrument. For open questions, the code is assigned after completing the
questionnaire, taking the closed question codes as a reference .

As a result, the data will be presented in statistical tables according to the absolute
frequencies recorded.

2. For the semi-structured interview: The recording of the answers obtained in the

interview is made with a video camera and / or audio recorder and notes from the
interviewer. Subsequently, the interview is transcribed and stored in the case file for use in
the production of testimonial material or the legal advice required by the victim. The source
of this method of investigation is alive, either by the affected person, the closest relative or
their legal representative.

3. For documentary observation:

Data of alleged extrajudicial executions obtained from the daily press monitoring, which
will be organized two on a spreadsheet, with the following categories:

 Date of the event (day / month / year): date on which the action or measure
occurred.
 Head of the press release (prayer): must be textual copy
 Link to the press release (hyperlink): must be textual copy
 Brief description of the event (short paragraph): on the basis of Quintilian's
technical hexameter . What happened? Who is involved in the event? How did it
happen? At what time did it happen? Where did it happen? Why did it happen?
 Use of the terms "dejected", neutralized "," discharged "," fallen " : simple
selection from a closed list of options.
 Name of victim (first name and surname): s and data placed full name of the victim.
 Victim`s Aliasing (Binary): Yes or No
 Victim`s Age (numeric): indicate two digits
 Victim`s Gender (simple selection): male, female, others.
  Place where the event occurred (prayer): indicate parish, municipality and state.
 Family name, witness or informant referred to in the press review ( first name and
surname): data will be placed and last name of the family, witness or informant.
 Security corp (s) involved (sentence): indicate acronyms and full name.
 Officer cause of death mentioned in the press review (sentence): textual quotation.
 Place of injury (phrase): indicate part of the body affected.
 Officer version of the events (short paragraph): textual quotation
 Theft or theft of victim's belongings (binary): yes or no
 Search warrant filing (binary): yes or no
 Presence of prosecutors from the Public Ministry in the procedure (binary): yes or
no
 Notification of the procedure to the Public Ministry (binary): yes or no
 Circumstances of transfer of the victim to the health center (short text): textual
quotation
 Weapons allegedly seized from the victim (binary): yes or no

5. 2. A legal assistency

Proiuris validates the definition of victim made by the United Nations (UN): ''… people
who, individually or collectively, have suffered physical, mental or emotional harm due to
actions or omissions that violate current criminal legislation (as well as ) the relatives or
dependents who have an immediate relationship with the direct victim. "

From the data provided by researchers, members of Proiuris legal team try a first

telephone contact with the surviving victims, to explain the meaning and scope of legal
assistance free that can offer the organization. If the victim agree to one or more meetings
to answer all your questions, concerns and expectations remember to obtain more data
allowing the to most adequate legal strategy accompaniment operation.

It is essential to promote and achieve relationships of trust and mutual

respect. Victim must  understand than the legal strategy will be more successful if it is
managed with perseverance, despite the obstacles that may arise from various
mechanisms of denial of justice and impunity.

Legal assistance is based on the reconstruction of the events from the information
gathered by the investigators who make the first contact with the surviving victims and
through all the necessary interviews with them. Subsequently, all legal considerations are
incorporated , based on the most favorable national and international protection standards
for the full exercise of the rights to life, personal integrity, due process, justice and truth.
Generally, the procedures before the Public Ministry begin with the exercise of the right to
petition before the Directorate of Fundamental Rights of the Ministry. Whether or not there
is a response, successively all the necessary procedures are carried out so that the Public
Ministry registers and attends the complaints and also undertakes the corresponding
investigations in a timely and effective manner.

During this period of investigation, 13 complaints were filed for cases of alleged

extrajudicial execution, 10 before the Ombudsman's Office and 03 before the Public
Ministry, summing Lara and Caracas.  11 were individually and 2 collectively, benefiting a
total of 20 victims.

Legal advice process

1. First contact: made by the researchers with the support of the legal team, mainly from
the Medicine and Forensic Science headquarters located in the selected regions. The
purpose is to be able to have direct contact with the right to life violations
(presumed extrajudicial executions) victims’ relatives:             

2. Second contact: a second approach is made to the victim with the intention of
requesting first-hand information that will allow us to guide and evaluate the feasibility of
the specific case.             

3. Presentation of legal strategy: it is necessary to propose to the victim the possible action
or the possible legal accompaniment in the agreed instances.             

4. Legal accompaniment: with the action carried out and approved with the Proiuris
lawyer’s team, it is necessary to accompany the victim before his/her presentation in
national instances.             

5. Follow-up and promote: after filing the complaint, the Proiuris lawyer’s team will be in
charge of following up and promoting it when necessary             

Due to the contingency of COVID - 19, a legal assistance protocol was designed:

Assistance protocol in the COVID-19 pandemic context

The legal team performs constant monitoring of possible human rights violations in the
context of the COVID-19, and alarm state decreed by the Government on 13 March 2020.

As the Constitution expressly establishes, the exceptional measures that could be taken in
a state of emergency (alarm state is one of the options) there are human rights that cannot
be restricted and, in any case, the restrictions must be justifiably proportional to the
circumstances of the contingency and to be adjusted to the principles of legality, necessity,
temporality, promotion and adaptation to international norms.

The standard that we must have as a reference is the established by the United Nations
on the need to guarantee the validity of human rights even in the states of exception
decreed by the States to face COVID-19[11] .

Form of advice:

1. Attention will be by phone call or email.

2. You will hear the victim or surviving family members will be treated n worthily

using the approach guidance Respectful of Victims of Extrajudicial
Executions and proceed to a round of questions when there are doubts on facts or no n
clearly been narrated .

3. The respective complaint form will be prepared. Thus, all possible data will be taken to
maintain frequent contact with the surviving victim and relatives (date of the complaint,
name, surname, age, identity card, trade or occupation, email , contact telephone
numbers, affected rights statement , brief narration of the facts and the actions to be taken
by the Legal Team).

4. The surviving victims and their families will be correctly advised, making use of national

and international regulations on the human rights protection.

 It will explain about protection systems.

 They will talk about the mandates of the Public Ministry and the Ombudsman's
Office.
 They will talk about the particularities of the case.
 Issues related to human rights enforcement mechanisms will be addressed.
 Possible scenarios will be addressed.
 They will advise on issues related to possible actions that they could exercise from
home.
 The possible actions that the organization could take according to the pandemic
will be evaluated together with the victim.
 Verbal commitment and authorization will be requested so that the organization
could make the case visible or carry out specific actions, if required and agreed by
the victim.

Scope or limit of the advice:

The advice or reception of complaints will only be carried out remotely. Based on this, all
the tools that the legal team can use will be virtual and remotely.

Thus, it is important not to generate different expectations for the surviving victims and

their families , since the team cannot face the situation physically.

1. Communication will only be by phone call or email as specified above.

2. The receipt of the necessary documentation that s victim s survivors, relatives or

witnesses can provide, will only receive via electronic mail or instant messaging, keeping
digital security protocols.

4. The actions agreed with the victim will be exercised free of charge and at a
distance; these can be:

 Complaint before the Public Ministry by telephone call to the number: 0212-509-
7244 / 0212-509-6462 / 0800- (FISCA ) 00 / 0800-3472200.
 Complaint before the Ombudsman's Office at the number: 0212-507-7006 / 0212-
507-7040

 6. Depending on the case, the Proiuris lawyers team undertakes to follow up on the

complaint through recurring calls to the victim's relatives.

7. After the pandemic, the case monitoring and the physical filing of actions will also be
evaluated before the corresponding authorities.

VI.- Documentation Development
Documentation was made in three stages . The third stage was reformulated from March
16, 2020, in compliance with the physical distancing measures recommended by the
World Health Organization to prevent the spread of COVID- 19.

1. Periodic visits to the forensic medications headquarters: From 01.12.2019 to

13.03.2020 Proiuris researchers team in Caracas, Barquisimeto (Lara) and
Maracay (Aragua) made periodic visits with a 3 times a week frequency from
Monday to Friday. For a total of at least 96 visits to the headquarters of
the forensic medications in the study cities. 
During these visits a first approach was made with victims of alleged extrajudicial
killings relatives, according to the patterns detected by Proiuris. It was
 procured a short interview and obtains contact details for monitoring and
coordinating a second face interview.
 
2. Study regions visits (Lara and Aragua  states) : Having achieved the trust
relationship with survivors victims by local researchers , visits of the legal
team based on Caracas are coordinated, in order to deepen data collecting
and take legal action in Lara and Aragua .
On February 10, 2020, a 10-hour visit was made to the city of Maracay and on
March 2, 2020, a 36-hour visit was made, for a total of two visits to the study
regions
These visits seeks: a) to know morgues spaces or where to locate retention
corpses places of the direct alleged extrajudicial killings  victims b) determinate
the process of corpses transfer, c) to know the socioeconomic situation of the
victims and their families in order to achieve determine the s vulnerabilities , d) to
know violence rates in each state and the perception of victims survivors , e) to
know the process of allocating public prosecutors to the investigation of the facts
and their receptivity to the surviving victims .

3. Contacts through calls, video calls or instant messaging: Once the physical

distancing measures were announced to prevent the spread of COVI D- 19,
the investigative team is and the legal team devised a remote
documentation strategy to preserve the health of the informant victims , as
well as the members of Proiuris .
The accompaniment of the victims previously contacted was continued
through calls and video calls. In the case of the new victims contacted, the local
investigators made occasional transfers to the headquarters of the morgues,
with the necessary security measures, to verify the contact details . Then the
accompaniment would continue remotely.
The average weekly follow - up calls to victims, under normal is 14 calls a week,
to being constrained physical approach since mid-March this number doubled, as
the only way of communication with the surviving victims and relatives , reaching
a weekly average of up to 30 follow-up calls.
All documentation submitted by the victims' relatives was received via email or
instant messaging.
The documents presented to the Public Ministry and the Ombudsman's Office
were sent through electronic channels by these organizations. 

As for Aragua, we found and verified difficulties in documenting alleged extrajudicial

executions. The Maracay  Forensics Medicine headquarter, located in the cane sugar
industry, is a Research Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations  Corp
( CICPC ) dependency and the access of researchers and journalists covering the source
Events has been prohibited since mid-February 2020. The access closure is in charge of
officers stationed at a checkpoint at the entrance to the police headquarters.

In Aragua there is no regulation prohibiting approach to victims , however it is de facto

imposed . Journalists approaching the victims, their families or witnesses of some act of
violence, including alleged extrajudicial executions, was usually carried out in the
vicinity of the headquarters of the Maracay forensic medicine .

 Victims or their relatives are who ultimately decide whether to offer information or

not. Unofficially journalists who usually cover this type have in fact known that officers of
the Cicpc would "recommend" to the families not to give information to journalists,
otherwise they would hinder the procedures to remove the bodies or worst, they may face
retaliation .

Additionally in Aragua exist "red" areas controlled by organized crime, where access and
free movement of people is restricted and journalists passage for the purpose of gathering
information on violence, it is prohibited.

One of the most iconic areas of Maracay is the San Vicente neighborhood, to the west of
the city. It is one of the territories declared by the national government as a “zone of
peace”. In practice, it is an area given by authorities to criminal gangs to coordinate
disarmament course, which didn´t work in Aragua and other states of Venezuela.

No one can enter this community without authorization from the criminal groups that
control it. Leaflets have even circulated in San Vicente, through which criminal groups
notify neighbors of the prohibition of supplying information to anyone outside the
community.

Other red areas are:

 San Carlos neighborhoods, January 23, Brisas del Lago and Campo Alegre,
Girardot municipality.
 La Constituyente, Curiepe and La Línea neighborhoods, Santos Michelena
municipality. 
 El Conde and 5 de Julio neighborhoods, El Consejo-Las Tejerías section of the
Pan-American Highway, José Rafael Revenga municipality.
 Los Maleteros neighborhood , La Concepción, El Tierral, El Cementerio
and Zuata , José Félix Ribas municipality.
 Barrios FundaCoropo and Francisco de Miranda, municipality Francisco
Linares Alcántara .
  Magdaleno, Tocorón and Los Tanques neighborhoods, Zamora municipality.
 Los Tacariguas, Las Palmas, Los Hornos and La Ovallera neighborhoods ,
Libertador municipality

These areas coincide with the places where the victims were detected in
our press monitoring and through the first approaches of our regional investigator  so the
documentation of alleged extrajudicial killings in these areas involves risk of death both for
members of Proiuris and surviving victims.

VII . Development of press monitoring

Proiuris conducted a daily monitoring of alleged extrajudicial executions in 44 digital
media with national and regional coverage of the Capital District and the 23 states of
Venezuela, from December 1 , 2019 to May 22, 2020 . The main findings are :

 Total victims of alleged extrajudicial executions: 1,083 people

 Victims Average age: 27 years old
 Victims Gender: 1,081 men and 2 women
 Total massacres (more than 5 victims in a single operation): 24 Massacres
 States with the highest number of alleged extrajudicial executions: Zulia
( 223 people ), Aragua (119 people ), Miranda (115 people ) and Lara
(81 people ). Together they accumulate more than 58% of the victims detected
 VIII. Investigation Results
Proiuris directly documented 155 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions in Caracas and
the states of Aragua and Lara from December 1, 2019 to May 22, 2020, obtaining the
following findings:

 Victims Average age: 28 years old

 Victims Gender: 154 men and 1 women
 Victims by study region: Caracas (46), Lara (90), Aragua (19)
 The months with the most victims were January (35 people ) and February (34
people)
 48.39% were killed by FAES and 23.22% by CICPC
 114 people died of hypovolemic shock
 Policing Patterns  

In our line of research on extrajudicial executions in Venezuela we have identified 16

patterns of action of the security forces . We calculated the concurrence of these patterns
in the 155 directly documented cases , obtaining an average agreement of 80.05 % of the
cases , in 6 of the patterns there was total agreement of the cases . This shows a
consistency in the actions of the State security forces.

1. Violent Irruption : 83.40 % of cases

2. Terror in the neighborhood: 100% of the cases
3. Target youth: 100% of the chaos
4. Penal history : 62.96 % of cases
5. Presumed confrontation: 100% of cases
6. Absence of prosecutors: 26.86 % of the cases
7. No order to acquiescence in : 100 % of cases
8. Supposed flagrance: 37 % of cases
9. Theft: 0 % of cases (excluded from average)
10. Hooded agents: 65.67 % of cases
11. Stocking of firearms: 0 % of the cases (it is excluded from the average)
12. Shot in vital area: 78.35% of cases
13. Denial of relief: 86.44 % of cases (73.54% of people died at the scene)
14. Suppression of protests: 0% of cases (excluded from the average )
15. Alteration of the crime scene : 100 % of the cases
16. Impunity: 100% of cases

IX . Special reports

Another unpunished massacre[12]

With a blockade on the Caracas-Guarenas highway, the residents of Turumo protested the
murder of five men at the hands of officers from the Scientific, Criminal and
Criminal Investigations Corps ( Cicpc ), on January 13, 2020. Luis Carlos Torres Bello,
Armando Torres Bello Gabriel Bohórquez, Luis Bohórquez, and Edilberto Blanco were
reportedly executed upon returning from the El Cercado cemetery, where they had gone to
visit the grave of a childhood friend. The officer version incriminates them as
kidnappers. The 32nd prosecutor of the Public Ministry, Dusay del Carmen Dueñas
González, promised to investigate but in Turumo they never heard from her.

In Permanent Mourning[13]
Sulay Rodriguez , a surviving victim, related how officers from the FAES and the Scientific,
Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC), took five members of her family away
from her: Jhon Williams Linares Rodríguez and Yoember José Linares Rodríguez; her
husband William Antonio Linares, and two of her nephews.

The tragedy of this Lara family began in September 2018. In an alleged confrontation with
FAES officers, on Circunvalación Norte avenue, her husband William Linares, her
son Yoember Linares and her nephew Royer Aparicio were murdered .

In January 2020, the police violence came closer to him, to his own home, located in
the Las Tinajitas sector , in Barquisimeto. CICPC officers broke into the house and
subdued his remaining son , Jhon Linares , and another of his nephews, Carlos
Rodríguez. Then they took the two cousins out of the house and murdered them

The CICPC kills as much as the FAES[14]

The FAES kills and the Cicpc also. Through environmental monitoring and direct
documentation of cases in the Metropolitan Area of Caracas and Lara state, it was
determined that the scientific police appear as the second state security corp most
involved in alleged extrajudicial executions .

X. Conclusions
It can be stated that in Venezuela violations of the right to life and personal
integrity , through extrajudicial executions , are not isolated cases. Our investigation was
able to demonstrate the systematic nature of the police actions . In more than 80% of the
16 cases documented patterns of action of state security bodies are met detected
by Proiuris , to define an extrajudicial execution.  

In 100% of the cases studied, the pattern of murdering young men who come from poor
areas of Venezuela is met. Impunity, the alleged confrontation, the lack of court orders to
enter their homes and the alteration of evidence complete the factors that affect the victims
and their environment and increase the already serious violation.

Systematically perpetrated increase in cases was observed by the C icpc , an actor who

has been consolidated in second place in the number of murders through extrajudicial
executions, after FAES. It was also possible to detect participation in conjunction with the
regional police in Miranda and Lara states.
We cannot forget that the scientific police is , ironically, the corp called upon to carry out
the expertise that would nurture the fiscal investigations of each police or military
procedure that involves excesses or, in the worst case, ends in murders.

The Public Ministry does not respond to complaints or undertake inquiries about the
abuses committed by the State security forces , despite the fact that the events are widely
reported in the media. In addition to violating the rights to personal integrity and life, the
rights to due process, justice and the truth.

The massacres committed by officers of the State security forces continue to be constant

and this time they involve more security forces . They occur in any state, no area is
safe. This creates a feeling that anyone can be killed. 

The fear of family members and witnesses to suffer reprisals, mistrust in

the justice administration system and impunity are factors present in all cases. We were
able to detect the recurrence of the phenomenon in the same family, as in the
case of the Linares Rodríguez in Lara state, who have lost 5 members of the family
nucleus due to actions by State security forces. 

one
 

[1] Proiuris. La  Faes Mata, Patrones . November 2019. Available

at: https://proiurisac.wixsite.com/lasfaesmatan/patrones
[2] Special Actions Forces of the Bolivarian National Police (FAES)
[3] Corps of Scientific Criminal and Criminal Investigations (CICPC)
[4] National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command (CONAS)
[5] Bolivarian National Guard (GNB)
[6] 
[7] Proiuris. 100 Death Sentences . April 2019.Available at: https://proiurisac.wixsite.com/100sm
 
[8] UN Economic and Social Council, Principles relating to an effective prevention and
investigation of extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions.  May 24, 1989.Available
at: http://www.ordenjuridico.gob.mx/TratInt/Derechos%20Humanos/PI118.pdf
[9] UNHCR, Resolution approved by the General Assembly65 / 208. Extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions. March 30, 2011.Available
at: https://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/BDL/2012/8286.pdf
[10] UNHCR, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, Christof Heyns . April 28, 2014.Available
at: https://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/BDL/2015/9931.pdf
[11] UN Standard. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/SP/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?
NewsID=25722&LangID=S
 
[12] Proiuris. Another unpunished massacre . May 2020. A vailable at: https://www.proiuris.org/?
page_id=59351
[13] Proiuris. In permanent mourning  . April 2020. A vailable at: https://www.proiuris.org/?page_id=58872
 
[14] Proiuris. The  C  icpc  kills as much as the FAES . May 2020.Available at: https://www.proiuris.org/?
page_id=59991