Nicaragua and Venezuela: Countries that implemented death penalty for protesting

“Everyone has the right of free reunion and peaceful association”. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 20)

Peaceful protesting is part of the fundamental rights of every human being, since it comes off from the right to assembly and the right of freedom of expression. That's why the governments of the world are obliged to guarantee the free exercise of this right, thus fulfilling the stipulations of different international treaties.

Even so historically we’ve seen how in Latin America (with a long list of military dictatorships in its record) the human rights that are mentioned here, have not been respected as it should. The most recent cases that have been notorious before the world and the public opinion were the protests in Venezuela (April 2017-July 2017) and Nicaragua (April 2018-current date). Those time periods were of great social turbulence, in both cases were specific political decisions(that are out of the scope of this article) what activated the pacific street protests, so dozens of thousand people took the avenues, streets and highways to manifest their disagreement against the politic administration of their government, claiming for their rights and popular will respect.

On these countries the repressive element said present, staying as protagonist and leaving hundreds of deaths on its way (130 deaths in Venezuela case and 250-300 in Nicaragua) as result of criminal repression that violate the international treaties of human rights. In both cases that are analysis target here, it’s clear that there’re generalize and systematic attacks symptoms against the civil population, which have been confirmed in Nicaragua case by different jurists specialist in international laws and by ONG and human rights defense organizations. In the case of Venezuela, after a year of the atrocious aggressions against the people, the international community has organized itself to strongly oppose the violations of human rights by the Venezuelan regime.

During these periods of protests, both the police action and the biased actions of state institutions and violent statements of high-ranking government officials, let glimpse how the repression was part of a state policy to intimidate and subdue the population in order to avoid the peaceful protest. Below are some "irregularities" that occurred both in Nicaragua and in Venezuela during times of social protest.

Constant intervention by irregular groups related to the government
Of all the events that occurred during the protests, one of the most notorious and aberrant was the frequent performance of the national police in conjunction with paramilitary groups, armed with war munitions exclusive of the national army. This, like the other events listed in this section, occurred in both Latin American countries; perhaps the case of Nicaragua was even more scandalous, where these pro-government groups attacked the population with high-caliber weapons such as RGP-7 rocket launchers. All these with full complicity of the national police.

Use of snipers against the civilian population
Another fact that is part of this strategy of repression was the use of trained individuals for the task of selecting protesters from the crowd and firing shots in the head. Last year, even before it began to be used regularly by the Bolivarian National Guard in the protests of Venezuela, an audio of military leaders had already been leaked, planning the selection of these snipers, in the recording it is clearly heard how the military expresses that this was part of the government's plan for people to stop protesting in the streets.

Criminalization of protesters
Senior leaders of both countries maintained the same position regarding the speech used to refer to the protesters saying they were "right-wing terrorists" financed by the United States to conduct a coup, thus justifying the brutal repression against of the peaceful protests, by describing the protester as "the enemy" and supposed member of a foreign force, which seeks to violate national sovereignty and change the republican form of government in favor of the alleged invader.

Violation of international agreements
According to all international human rights agreements, the correct way to disperse (never repress) a protest that begins to turn violent is by means of incapacitating, non-lethal weapons. This has been clearly disrespected by the state security forces both in Nicaragua and in Venezuela, using firearms as well as other types of lethal projectiles. Leaving a large death toll in its wake. This degree of repression was increasing over the weeks, by government order with the creation of violent operations, in Venezuela the president created the so-called "Zamora Plan", which divided into 3 phases, and as it increased in phase, the number of deaths due to repression as well. In Nicaragua, it was recently announced the "Operation Clean-up" that in a single day left a balance of 24 deaths.

Torture, arbitrary detention and forced disappearances
According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, part I, article 7, these three crimes, like murder, constitute crimes against humanity and were crimes constantly perpetuated by the security forces of these countries, inflicting pain on young students through severe physical and psychological torture, as well as inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment, carried out in a generalized and systematic way with beatings, electric shocks, burns on the body (with cigarettes) and other perverse practices. Likewise, a significant number of protesters, journalists, opposition politicians and human rights activists were victims of detentions, depriving them of their freedom arbitrarily.

Obstruction of justice and violation of due process
The national government not only evaded its responsibility for the crimes, but also prevented justice from being done, altering the evidence and leaving those responsible for carrying out the killings unpunished. In the same way, the hundreds of detainees did not enjoy fair and transparent conditions, being victims of a corrupt and biased legal system that safeguards government interests.

Conclusion
It is regrettable to see how the fundamental rights of human beings continue to be violated in a flagrant manner in Latin America, specifically in Nicaragua and Venezuela, countries where the right to life is continuously violated, causing great pain and displacement. of thousands of its inhabitants. The right to freedom of expression far from being respected is demonized, seen by its rulers as a disgusting insect that must be trampled completely. States where personal liberties and democratic values are continually undermined by repressive and totalitarian regimes, where thinking differently makes you an undesirable and dissident of a perverse system full of injustice makes you a "terrorist", a threat that exists what to eliminate Therefore, it is essential that the international community not be disengaged and ensure that the rights of these peoples are respected, and thus avoid possible genocides.

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-44775857
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestas_en_Nicaragua_de_2018
https://www.lapatilla.com/2018/07/01/paralelismo-comunista-en-nicaragua-la-gente-huye-del-pais-para-salvar-su-vida/
https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2018/07/12/politica/2447536-gobierno-de-nicaragua-arrecia-ataques-contra-opositores-politicos-y-activistas
http://www.eluniversal.com/internacional/13644/cidh-realiza-visita-sorpresa-a-carcel-de-nicaragua-con-manifestantes-presos