Iván Simonovis, a former police chief of the Caracas Metropolitan Police who was sentenced to 30 years in prison over the April 2012 coup, on Tuesday went on a hunger strike to reject the court's delay in deciding whether he will be granted humanitarian release due to his poor health condition, a petition filed by his defense lawyers nearly two years ago. Reading a letter from Simonovis, defense lawyer José Luis Tamayo made the announcement. Tamayo pointed out that the...

Venezuelan security forces have used unlawful force in response to antigovernment demonstrations, severely beating unarmed protesters and shooting them at point blank range, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Security forces also subjected detainees to severe physical and psychological abuse, including in some cases torture, and justice officials failed to safeguard detainees’ due process rights. The 103-page report, “,” documents 45 cases from Caracas and...

Reporters Without Borders condemns independent journalist Juliet Michelena Díaz’s detention since 7 April, three days before the publication of a by-lined report she wrote for the Miami-based independent news platform Cubanet about a case of ordinary police violence she had witnessed in Havana. Michelena, who was arrested in a heavy-handed police operation, is a member of the Cuban Network of Community Journalists (RCCC), an organization that defends freedom of information. The...

Nairobi Pinto was seized by two masked gunmen at her home in the capital Caracas, her father Luis said. He asked the kidnappers to "see sense" and release his daughter. Kidnappings, especially for ransom, are not uncommon in Venezuela, and a number of diplomats, as well as businessmen and athletes, have been abducted over the past years. While the majority of those kidnapped for ransom are released hours or days after they were taken, some kidnap victims have been killed or died...

On Thursday, a students' march from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) intended to arrive to the Economic Vice presidency office in La Campiña, Caracas, to protest against shortage and economic crisis. State security forces prevented demonstrators from getting out of the university campus. In addition, armed gangs attacked the university and the students.

(Bogotá) - Paramilitary successor groups have abducted and disappeared scores, and possibly hundreds, of residents of the largely Afro-Colombian port of Buenaventura, Human Rights Watch said in a report and released today. Thousands of residents have been fleeing their homes in the city each year, making Buenaventura the municipality with the highest level of ongoing forced displacement in today. The 30-page report, “,” documents how many of the city’s neighborhoods...

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has reaffirmed that nobody, included individuals or countries, is entitled to overthrown a legitimate elected president through violence. Bachelet's comment came with respect to a wave of protests staged in Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro in recent weeks. Amidst reports of torture and violation of dissenters' human rights, Bachelet told Reuters, "We hope at all times for the respect of human rights and the Constitution, and hope that...

(Washington, DC) - The decision by Honduras’s Attorney General’s Office to create a special unit to investigate killings allegedly linked to land disputes in the Bajo Aguán region is an important step toward tackling widespread impunity there, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called for such a unit in its February 2014 report titled “.” Human Rights Watch documented the systemic failure of Honduran authorities to properly investigate a wave of...

The Organization of American States (OAS) and its member countries should proceed with a meeting on the situation in , Human Rights Watch said today. The OAS should use the meeting to address the human rights violations committed in response to widespread public demonstrations since February 12, 2014. The OAS should not allow such an important opportunity to engage on human rights issues at the heart of the situation in Venezuela to be derailed. On February 25, the government of Panama asked...

The Honduran Congress should conduct a transparent, impartial, and participatory process for electing the country’s next human rights ombudsman, Human Rights Watch said today. A new ombudsman must be chosen by March 14, 2014, when the current ombudsman’s six-year term ends. The ombudsman directs the National Human Rights Commission (El Comisionado Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, or CONADEH). “Unfortunately, in recent years the National Human Rights Commission has too often...