Click to expand Image Relatives of detainees take part in a demonstration demanding the release of political prisoners in front of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Caracas on November 21, 2024. © 2024 FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images (Washington, DC) – Venezuelan authorities are carrying out widespread abuses against critics through politically motivated arrests, a year after the presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today.Hours after polls closed on July 28, 2024, the Electoral Council declared that Nicolás Maduro had been re-elected. International observers criticized the process for lacking transparency and integrity, and questioned the announced results. The authorities have yet to release official tally sheets, while tallies published by the opposition indicate that the opposition candidate Edmundo González won the election. Since the elections, Venezuelan authorities have carried out brutal repression, including killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and torture. As of July 21, 853 political prisoners remained behind bars, according to the human rights group Foro Penal.“The Venezuelan authorities are committing systematic human rights violations against critics,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Recent releases of people arbitrarily detained do not conceal the fact that hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars.”Following the announcement of Maduro’s re-election, thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets, mainly in low-income neighborhoods. In response, the government initiated “Operation Knock Knock” (Operación Tun Tun), a nationwide campaign of intimidation, harassment and repression.Human Rights Watch has documented the killing of protesters and the arrest of hundreds of political opponents, human rights defenders, critics, and foreign nationals. Many have been charged with vague offenses such as “incitement to hatred” and “terrorism,” which carry prison sentences of up to 30 years. Many were targeted for engaging in activities protected under international human rights law – such as protesting, criticizing the government, or participating in the opposition – and were detained arbitrarily and subjected to deeply flawed legal proceedings.Venezuelan authorities have frequently denied carrying out arrests or hidden detainees’ whereabouts, actions that amount to enforced disappearances under international law. Families have been left searching for their loved ones in detention centers and morgues for days or weeks. Many detainees have been held incommunicado, some since the day of their arrest, denied visits, and blocked from accessing private lawyers or legal files. Many were charged in virtual and group hearings that further undermined their due process rights.Some detainees have been held incommunicado for months. These include Freddy Superlano, national coordinator of the opposition party Voluntad Popular; Perkins Rocha, of the opposition party Vente Venezuela; Jesús Armas, a member of the opposition’s campaign team; Enrique Márquez, a 2024 presidential candidate; and Eduardo Torres, a lawyer with the human rights organization Venezuelan Program for Education and Action on Human Rights (Programa Venezolano de Educación Acción en Derechos Humanos, Provea).Some detainees have been subjected to ill-treatment and torture, including beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation with plastic bags, solitary confinement, and being held in tiny, dark, overcrowded punishment cells.The Attorney General’s Office says it has released hundreds of detainees, though many remain under criminal investigation. Many have been forced to sign documents prohibiting them from disclosing information about their arrest or the legal proceedings against them. Some were forced to record videos saying that their rights were respected during detention.On July 18, 2025, Venezuelan authorities announced the release of 80 people. Venezuelan authorities also released 10 US citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the release of 252 Venezuelan migrants who the US government had deported to El Salvador, where they had been held incommunicado in the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, CECOT), a notorious mega prison.According to Vente Venezuela, around 40 other critics have been detained since the recent releases took place. Some were later released.“The Maduro government has for years followed a ‘revolving-door’ pattern, releasing some arbitrarily detained people while arresting others” Goebertus said. “Foreign governments, including the United States, should know that they are being played by a government that releases some political prisoners while detaining others, all the while entrenching its authoritarian rule.”Foreign governments should disrupt Maduro’s domestic carrot-and-stick incentives that reward abusive authorities and security forces, making them loyal to the government, while punishing, torturing, and forcing into exile critics, opponents, and even security force members who support democracy and human rights, Human Rights Watch said.They should fully support ongoing accountability efforts against those responsible for human rights abuses in Venezuela; explore ways to pressure governments and economic actors that aid the authorities’ repression; expand support for civil society, independent journalists, and others working to defend democracy and human rights; and urgently expand protections for all those forced to leave the country.The international community should seize every opportunity to push for meaningful progress on human rights in Venezuela. This includes leveraging regional and international forums, such as the upcoming European Union-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, CELAC) summit, set to take place in Colombia in November. The Vatican should also seize the upcoming canonization of two Venezuelans, set for October, as an opportunity to push for the unconditional release of all political prisoners.“One year after the 2024 elections, many Venezuelans continue to risk their lives and freedom to stand up for democracy,” Goebertus said. “Governments engaging with Maduro shouldn’t settle for isolated prisoner releases: they should demand substantial, lasting human rights improvements to dismantle the machinery of state-led terror that has gripped Venezuela.”