An arrest warrant has been issued for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s main opponent Edmundo González for “conspiracy”, “incitement to disobedience” and other crimes, according to the non-governmental group Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Venezuela’s presidential elections, which took place just over a month ago on July 28, have been widely contested, with thousands of people having taken to the streets across the country to demand a fair counting of the votes. Venezuela’s ruling-party controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) says Maduro won 51.2 percent of the vote, which would give him six more years in office, despite exit polls having indicated a win for González.
According to HRW, over 2,400 people have been arrested in connection to the protests and at least 24 people have been killed. Acts of intimidation include passports belonging to critics being canceled and paramilitary groups reportedly having marked an X on the doors of opposition supporters in some communities.
Even prior to the elections, the country ranked low across several international surveys and reports. For example, the South American nation placed 177th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index. This tied the nation with Syria and South Sudan, while only Somalia ranked lower.
Venezuela performs poorly in terms of press freedom too. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) highlights in their 2024 World Press Freedom Index how the country is “very restrictive for the news media, with policies that threaten the existence of independent journalism.” According to RSF, eight journalists are currently being held in worrying conditions and are facing between 12 and 20 years in prison on charges of “terrorism,” “inciting hatred“ and “criminal association”.
In addition, Venezuela is ranked 149th out of 179 in the 2024 Fragile States Index by the Fund for Peace. This index uses 12 conflict risk indicators, ranging from economic decline and brain drain to state legitimacy and external intervention, in order to assess the vulnerability of states to collapse. For the sake of clarity when comparing rankings on this chart, we have inverted the ranking for this index, as well as for the two Freedom House indices, so that 1 is the best and a bigger number worse, as with the other cited reports.
