Venezuela mulls laws vs critics as UN laments ‘climate of fear’

The deputies of the Bolivarian National Assembly of Venezuela vote during a session at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 13, 2024. – Venezuela’s ruling chavista-controlled parliament will push for regulation of social media and NGO’s by reforming a law against hate, which is often used to charge opponents. (Photo by Federico PARRA / Agence France-Presse)

CARACAS, Venezuela — The United Nations (UN) has voiced concern over a “climate of fear” in post-election Venezuela as lawmakers mulled a package of laws critics say target opponents of Nicolas Maduro.

Electoral officials loyal to Maduro declared him the victor of a July 28 vote whose contested results have plunged the country into a political crisis with 25 killed, dozens injured, and thousands arrested after protests broke out following the poll.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement Tuesday that he was troubled by “the high and continuing number of arbitrary detentions, as well as [the] disproportionate use of force” reported since the election “and the resulting climate of fear.”

The National Electoral Council (CNE) had declared Maduro the president-elect for a third, six-year term, giving him 52 percent of ballots cast. It has yet to provide a detailed breakdown.

A preliminary report published Tuesday by a panel of UN elections experts found the CNE “fell short of the basic transparency and integrity measures” by withholding polling station-level results.

The opposition said its own tally of polling-station-level results showed Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old retired diplomat, had won by a wide margin.

READ: Venezuela opposition calls for worldwide protests for election ‘truth’

The United States, European Union, and several Latin American countries have also rejected Maduro’s claim of victory.

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects” the UN report.

Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running by Maduro-friendly state institutions, are in hiding after the president accused them of seeking to foment a “coup d’etat” and incite “civil war.”

On Tuesday, the South American country’s national assembly started considering a package of laws that would tighten regulations on the registration and funding of non-governmental organizations.

This comes after Maduro ally and National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez called NGOs a “facade for the financing of terrorist actions.”

Rodriguez also indicated he would seek to ban any future election observation missions from foreign countries.

Other measures seek to increase government oversight over social media and to punish “fascism” — a term often used by Maduro in relation to the opposition and other detractors.

The socialist president says social media is being used to attack him and to promote “hate,” “fascism” and “division.”

Last week, he banned social media site X for 10 days after CEO Elon Musk said Maduro had engaged in “major election fraud.” The president has also promoted a boycott against WhatsApp.

Maduro calls for ‘iron fist’

UN rights chief Turk expressed his concern about the legislative project, and urged legislators to refrain from adopting laws “that undermine civic and democratic space in the country.”

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also urged parliamentarians not to pass the NGO law, which it said would “arbitrarily restrain the right to association (and) freedom of expression.”

After about an hour of debate Tuesday, the session was suspended until Thursday.

The vast majority of 277 lawmakers in the single-chamber legislature are loyal to Maduro, who had warned of a “bloodbath” if he lost his reelection bid.

On Monday, he called for the state to use an “iron fist” and urged “severe justice” for post-election violence he blamed on the opposition.

The UN human rights office said more than 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29, and Turk called for the “immediate release of everyone who has been arbitrarily detained.”

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Mexican counterpart Alicia Barcena about the need “to end human rights abuses” and for greater transparency on the poll results, according to a US statement.

The two spoke “ about the need for the Maduro regime to release untampered, detailed vote tallies,” the statement said.

READ: ‘We were robbed’: Despair in Venezuela after Maduro victory

Blinken also spoke with Brazil’s foreign minister about the situation in Venezuela on Tuesday, a US State Department spokesman said.

Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro has overseen an economic collapse of the once-wealthy oil-rich state due to economic mismanagement and sanctions, as he tightened control over the military, courts and other state institutions.

According to the United Nations, more than seven million Venezuelans have fled the country of 30 million as GDP has plunged 80 percent in a decade.

Maduro’s last election in 2018 was also rejected as a sham by dozens of countries.

But years of damaging sanctions failed to dislodge the president, who enjoys loyalty from a well-established system of political patronage, as well as from Russia, China and Cuba.