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U.N. Report Accuses Venezuela’s Special Forces of 1000s of Extrajudicial Killings

HeadlineJul 16, 2019

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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