Policing and Autocratisation in Bolivarian Venezuela

Abstract

This article aims to identify and analyse the mechanisms and manifestations through which the Venezuelan police have undergone a gradual and incremental counter‐reform in the scope of the autocratisation process of the political regime from Chávez to Maduro. It is argued that police counter‐reform has operated through three mechanisms: politicisation, militarisation and informalisation of policing, whose manifestations have become more pronounced when a deepening of autocratisation has taken place

Instrumentalization of the COVID-19 Pandemic to Consolidate the Authoritarian Power of Nicolás Maduro and Transform Venezuela into a Police State

“…The Nicolás Maduro regime's reaction to the peaceful demonstrations was prosecution, arrest and brutal repression� Additionally, as part of the application of the People's Peace Protection System (known as "SP3") as a guideline of "Plan de la Patria 2019-2025", the activities of Network of Articulation and Sociopolitical Action (Red de Articulación y Acción Socio Política, Raas) members stand out (Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social OVCS, 2020)� SP3 aims to identify criminal groups and paramilitaries with the help of civilian informers, known as "cooperating patriots"� Operation Humanist Liberation of the People (Operación Liberación Humanista del Pueblo, OLHP) -previously known as the Operation Liberation of the People (Operación para la Liberación del Pueblo, OLP) -is considering a massive deployment of government forces to seek out and neutralize criminals while remaining in the communities after the operation has ended (Tremaria, 2022)� According to Marcos Ponce, coordinator at the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict (OVCS), "[t]he Raas is a complement to the repression system imposed by Nicolás Maduro through the Plan Zamora 200, which institutionalized the joint operations of military forces, militias and armed civilian groups as measures of public control or in any other scope they choose� This institutionalization is a confirmation of that repressive system that the Venezuelan State has been implementing"� Moreover, he adds, the Raas is based "on the National Security Doctrine in which any citizen who tries to demand and defend human rights, voice their complaints against public management or politically oppose the government, are identified as internal enemies" (Martínez, 2018)�…”

“…1� The state of emergency declared in Venezuela on March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic is being deliberately used by government officials as a new mechanism of civic control� A tightening of the repressive policy has been observed along with an increasing number of politically motivated arrests� Many detainees are charged under an overly broad hate crimes law, before a judiciary that lacks independence� Some detainees have been subjected to physical abuse that might amount to torture (Human Rights Watch, 2020c)� 2� Widespread violence by the state apparatus has intensified� A number of arrests, intimidations and threats resulted from the unwritten law of the implementation of state censorship in the field of informing and disseminating information on subsequent COVID-19 cases and the lack of appropriate instruments to effectively fight the pandemic in Venezuela� Unlawful deprivation and restriction of liberty, as well as attacks on public workers, especially in the health sector, as well as journalists and human and civil rights defenders, have deepened generalized misinformation about the global health crisis and its consequences, preceded by a difficult humanitarian situation, also characterized by non-transparency� 3� Chronic shortages of food, drinking water, hygiene products, medicines, as well as shortages in basic services have become the main incentives forcing people to go out into the streets to protest in various states of the country, despite the risk of infection with the COVID-19 virus� These protests were bloodily suppressed by officials of the state security services, a significant number of people were arrested and detained in conditions and in a manner inconsistent with the law, constituting an abuse in the field of crisis response of the state� 4� Another manifestation of the use of the pandemic for political purposes, intimidation of society and violation of basic human rights, constitution and international obligations is the criminalization of people returning from emigration to the country, who were described by regime officials as "biological weapons" and were forced to stay in camps in conditions described as "inhuman"� The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and its commission of inquiry confirmed in September 2020 the direct responsibility of Maduro and other members of the government for massive violations of human rights in Venezuela, including crimes against humanity� OHCHR has published a report on the results of its investigation into complaints of violations of human rights to life, freedom, and physical and moral integrity in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela� High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet stressed that "the people of Venezuela continue to suffer from serious violations of economic and social rights, due to low wages, high food prices or persistent shortages in public services" (Observatorio Venezolano de Conflictividad Social OVCS, 2020)� Under Maduro's presidency, the politicization of the police was further exacerbated by increased political interference in the local police force and the establishment of a clientelist government-police alliance to protect the regime� The management of civil security agencies has been re-militarized and contribution of GNB to the fight against crime and the protest police has increased� In turn, the police in the fight against crime and the suppression of political opposition have become unprecedentedly lethal, mostly under FAES supervision� In addition, various police functions have been de-formalized to cover a wider spectrum of actors, which, alongside with colectivos, now includes ordinary citizens -mostly government supporters -and organized crime groups (Tremaria, 2022)�…”