The July 28 elections took place in a restrictive environment, characterized by the arbitrary detention of political activists and human rights defenders; the promotion of laws that seek to criminalize the work of civil society, members of the political opposition and journalists; as well as the systematic repression of independent media, among others. Moreover, the elections happened against a backdrop of other ongoing human rights violations, for which there is an open formal investigation for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court. This investigation includes acts of systematic torture in the context of arbitrary detentions of critics of the current government, with a total of 304 political prisoners currently registered.

While government repression in Venezuela notably intensified ahead of the presidential elections, systematic attacks against political opposition and human rights defenders have been documented for years. The Venezuelan government has historically engaged in continuous violations of human rights—namely, a pattern of arbitrary arrests, followed by incommunicado detention—as a mechanism to repress, intimidate and attempt to silence the voices of social activists, human rights defenders, and other members of civil society deemed “internal enemies.”

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