BOGOTA, Colombia – Amnesty International believes the findings of a report filed this week could be proof of crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
Journalist and activist, Luiz Carlos Diaz, still deals with the trauma from 2019, when he says he became the ire of the Maduro government.
During the massive blackouts that year, Diosdado Cabello, number two in the regime, used his weekly show to blame Diaz and his wife for the power outages.
He told Local 10 News he was physically and psychologically tortured and then was taken to his home where he and his wife were robbed of his wife’s cancer treatments.
Far from an isolated incident, Diaz’ case forms part of the systematic persecution against human rights defenders and opposition figures.
Normally, these individuals are called out on state television and later arrested.
These are the findings of a more than 50 page study from Amnesty International released this week.
“This is a policy that is orchestrated and we need those accountable for this to respond to justice,” said Valentina Ballesta, Amnesty International Researcher.
The world has known for years about the policy of repression in Venezuela. Our latest research highlights instances where there is an extremely high correlation between public stigmatization and politically motivated arbitrary arrests 👇https://t.co/3VlBFzlrgz
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) February 10, 2022
The systematic persecution could be considered a crime against humanity. The organization is also calling on the government to end those stigmatizations. But just last month, Cabello flipped through pages of names and photos of people on his program, all labeled as thieves, that included pictures of Luis Carlos Diaz and Naty Soto.
To read this story in Spanish, click here.