Venezuelan security forces have 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, release people arbitrarily detained, and ensure the protection of the ousted Attorney General Luisa Ortega.
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 human rights violations show no signs of abating,” U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement: “These violations have occurred
