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July 16, 2019

U.N. Report Accuses Venezuela's Special Forces of 1000s of Extrajudicial Killings
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is rejecting the findings of a
recent U.N. report in which human rights chief Michelle Bachelet accuses
special forces of carrying out thousands of extrajudicial killings that
were "aimed at neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing political
opponents and people critical of the government." Nearly 7,000 people
were killed over 2018 and 2019, according to the report, though some say
that number may be conservative. Witnesses say Special Action Forces
regularly target political opponents and critics, often staging the
scene after they kill them to implicate them in fabricated drug crimes.
Special forces agents have also been accused of sexually assaulting
women.


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