20 August 2024: PEN International, alongside a group of international organisations, strongly condemns the brutal repression carried out by the Venezuelan government against citizens exercising their fundamental right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression. The recent actions by the authorities, including arbitrary detentions, persecution, censorship, restriction of social media, and the imposition of curfews and the use of levels of control and repression, constitute a flagrant violation of human rights.

The climate of fear and widespread violence created by the security forces has generated an unprecedented human rights crisis. According to reports from the United Nations, between July 28 and August 8 at least 23 people, most of them young men under the age of 30, were killed having been shot by security forces. To date, according to figures from the Venezuelan organisation Foro Penal, at least 1,503 people have been arbitrarily detained, including 200 women, 129 adolescents, and 14 Indigenous people. These minors have been allegedly charged with the same severe crimes as adults, without the presence of their parents or guardians during legal proceedings.

In addition to the mass arrests and detentions, civil association Espacio Público has documented at least 16 cases of journalists and human rights activists having their passports canceled, preventing them from leaving the country for safety.

According to information gathered by PAR network from testimonies of Venezuelan artists and activists, security forces arbitrarily detain individuals in the streets, subjecting them to searches and inspections of their mobile devices. Those found to be connected to the protests or actions related to opponents of the government are arrested and, in some cases, tortured, including being forced to witness the torture of their fellow detainees; direct threats to writers, artists, journalists and cultural actors for writing about the election, protests, or the situation of detained people are also reported. The signatory organisations are also aware that some Venezuelan writers have decided to publish their literature anonymously in order to avoid reprisals and that there are artists who have been killed and arbitrarily detained in the context of the protests.

We stand in solidarity with those in Venezuela who, despite the overwhelming adversity, continue to demand the respect of their artistic freedom, their right to peaceful assembly and the freedom of expression. Cultural professionals, art collectives, journalists, writers, artists and all those actors who contribute to an open debate, could use the social media, words or arts as a means of free expression or to generate social cohesion and peace use or for access to other rights.

We condemn the repression and call on the Venezuelan government to: respect the right to protest; release all unjustly imprisoned artists, journalists, and activists; and put an end to the psychological terror tactics that are devastating its civil society. Furthermore, ARC and PAR call on the government to allow an independent, international fact-fiding mission into the country to investigate the allegations of torture and abuse by the security forces.

In front of a clear deterioration in the artistic freedom, freedom of expression and other fundamental rights in Venezuela, including cultural rights, and urges the Venezuelan authorities to:

Stop all attacks, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests of artists, activists, journalists.

Respect and guarantee human rights in the country, including the right to freedom of expression, peaceful protest, association and access to information and the Internet.