According to its third report presented on Monday, September 26, the United Nations Fact Finding Mission documented several attacks by State forces on indigenous groups in Venezuela.
One of the most emblematic cases documented took place in the Gran Sabana in 2019, when Venezuelan military forces prevented the entry of humanitarian aid from Brazil.
The Mission also ratified the allegations of the operation of armed groups outside the Venezuelan Constitution in mining areas, most of them on lands that have traditionally been occupied by indigenous peoples, nowadays irrationally exploited in the framework of the Orinoco Mining Arc.
Questionable actions by the Venezuelan military towards a defenseless civilian population have been documented in these areas.
The report also mentioned murders, enforced disappearances, extortion, corporal punishment, and sexual and gender-based violence among the crimes that occur in the context of the illegal exploitation of mining resources.
The most significant mining activities take place in southeast Venezuela, across the states of Bolívar, Delta Amacuro and Monagas. Irregular groups called “unions” and other illegal and guerrilla groups would also be operating in these territories.
Read the full report by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the situation of Human Rights in the Orinoco Mining Arc HERE.
Translated by José Rafael Medina
