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The Venezuelan regime campaigns to cover up its human rights abuses

May 27, 2025

Venezuela held regional and parliamentary elections on May 25, 2025, amid a contested political landscape following President Nicolás Maduro's disputed 2024 reelection. The government launched a severe crackdown on opposition before the elections, with Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announcing arrests of 70 politicians, activists, journalists, and lawyers, including opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa. Simultaneously, the Maduro administration attempted to improve its image by orchestrating the return of two-year-old Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, who had been separated from her deported parents by U.S. authorities.

Who is affected

  • Venezuelan opposition politicians, activists, journalists, and lawyers (70+ arrested)
  • Venezuelan migrants, especially those deported from the US
  • Approximately 350,000 Venezuelans under Temporal Protection Status in the US
  • Families separated by deportation policies
  • Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal and her parents
  • Nearly 8 million Venezuelans who have fled the country

What action is being taken

  • The Venezuelan government is conducting a wave of forced disappearances and detentions of dissidents
  • The Maduro regime is orchestrating the return of separated migrant children like Maikelys Espinoza Bernal
  • The Venezuelan government is promoting propaganda depicting Maduro as a protector of migrants
  • The US is deporting Venezuelan migrants, including sending some to a Salvadoran prison
  • Most of the Venezuelan opposition is boycotting the 2025 regional and parliamentary elections

Why it matters

  • The actions demonstrate the Maduro regime's continued authoritarianism despite attempting to project democratic legitimacy
  • The humanitarian crisis forcing millions to flee Venezuela persists while the government uses migrant suffering for propaganda
  • The treatment of Venezuelan migrants abroad, particularly in the US, is being leveraged by the Maduro regime for political gain
  • Human rights violations continue both within Venezuela and against Venezuelan migrants abroad
  • The political opposition in Venezuela faces impossible choices between participation in flawed elections or ceding all power

What's next

  • No explicit next steps stated in the article

Read full article from source: Global Voices