On a December night last year in Caracas, opposition activist Jesús Armas stepped out of a café and walked toward his car. Before he could reach it, at least five hooded men dressed in black surrounded him. They asked only his name before forcing him into a gold SUV with no license plates. There was no warrant, no explanation, no indication of where he was being taken. For weeks, his family searched for him. Only later did they discover he had been transferred to El Helicoide, the notorious intelligence prison run by Venezuela’s feared Bolivarian National Intelligence Service.

Armas’ abduction is one of dozens detailed in the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission’s 2025 report on Venezuela. The 165-page document, released this week, offers one of the most comprehensive accounts yet of systematic repression in the country during the year following the disputed July 2024 presidential election. Its conclusion is stark: The government of Nicolás Maduro has pursued “an exacerbated continuation of the plan to annihilate opponents or those perceived as such,” committing acts that amount to crimes against humanity.

The U.N.’s findings reveal not random or isolated abuses, but the operation of a machinery of repression — efficient, far-reaching, and designed to instill fear across Venezuelan society.

After the vote

On July 28, 2024, Venezuela held presidential elections. The regime-controlled National Electoral Council quickly declared Maduro the victor, but never released the full precinct-by-precinct count required by law. Opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia rejected the results, arguing that the vote had been stolen. Much of the international community agreed.

Within days, protests erupted across the country. By early August, Maduro announced that more than 2,200 people had been detained — branding them “terrorists.”

The U.N. mission documented 243 arbitrary detentions between late July and December 2024, and another 200 between January and August 2025. Those targeted included opposition leaders, journalists, human rights defenders, relatives of politicians, and ordinary citizens accused of dissent. According to the report, arbitrary detention is not an accident of state power but a systematic strategy — a cornerstone of Venezuela’s repressive apparatus.

Abductions and arbitrary justice

The report details how arrests are typically carried out: hooded, armed men in unmarked SUVs, often in broad daylight, seizing people from public spaces or raiding their homes at night. Victims are rarely shown warrants or informed of charges.

On Jan. 7, 2025, for example, journalist and human rights activist Carlos Correa, director of the organization Espacio Público , was intercepted in Caracas by an unmarked SUV. Hooded men dragged him out of his car and took him away without explanation. He later reappeared in a detention center facing terrorism-related charges.

Just days later, masked men carrying long weapons stormed a family home in Caracas at night, seizing a 17-year-old boy in front of his relatives without presenting a warrant. The teen was later accused of terrorism, a charge the mission notes is frequently invoked to criminalize protest.

The judicial process that follows is equally arbitrary. Hearings often take place inside detention centers, sometimes in the middle of the night, or even through WhatsApp audio calls. Defendants are routinely represented by state-assigned public defenders, even when they request private counsel.

In the case of Nélida Sánchez, her family attempted to file paperwork so she could appoint her own lawyer. Officials at El Helicoide refused, saying no documents could enter or leave the facility and that appointing private counsel was not permitted. Sánchez remained represented by a public defender she had not chosen.

Other detainees reported attending hearings without knowing the name of their assigned lawyer, unable to hear or consult with them. The mission concluded that Venezuela’s courts and prosecutors have abandoned any semblance of independence, functioning instead as instruments of political persecution.

Solitary confinement, incommunicado detention

The U.N. report devotes an entire section to solitary confinement and incommunicado detention, practices banned under international law when prolonged.

Perhaps the most extreme case is that of Josnars Baduel, son of the late Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel, himself once a political prisoner. Josnars was held incommunicado for 112 days at Rodeo 1 prison, from late January to mid-May 2025, after his family denounced prison conditions. He was denied all contact with relatives and lawyers.

At Tocuyito prison, dozens of detainees spent nearly two months without communication with the outside world. When visits were eventually permitted, they were limited to 10–20 minutes behind glass partitions.

At Tocorón prison, detainees were repeatedly thrown into isolation cells. One man endured nine separate periods of solitary confinement, including one lasting more than three weeks.

The psychological toll has proven deadly. At Tocorón, detainee Lindomar Bustamante took his own life after 15 days in isolation. The U.N. mission determined that his suicide was directly linked to the practice of prolonged solitary confinement.

Punishing Families

Another hallmark of the repression is the detention of relatives of opposition figures. The mission report argues the arrests are designed to punish by proxy and spread fear.

On Jan. 7, 2025, Rafael Tudares Bracho, son-in-law of opposition presidential candidate González Urrutia, was abducted while taking his children to school. He was held incommunicado for more than eight months. Prosecutors accused him of conspiracy and money laundering, though the only connection cited was his family link to González.

In another case, María de los Ángeles Lameda was detained in August 2024 while delivering medicine to her husband, who had been shot during protests. He died the next day in the hospital. Lameda, who had not participated in demonstrations, was charged with terrorism and incitement to hatred. She spent five months in detention before being released under restrictive conditions.

According to the mission report, such cases amount to collective punishment — silencing not just individuals, but entire families.

Extortion and sexual violence

The report also uncovered a pattern of extortion linked to detentions. Families of detainees were often forced to pay large sums to avoid imprisonment or to secure release.

In one case, relatives paid $3,500 to the head of a government intelligence office to free a detainee. Diplomats told investigators that some foreign nationals were extorted as much as $10,000 to avoid arrest at checkpoints.

For wome in detention, extortion sometimes took the form of sexual coercion: officials demanded sex in exchange for improved conditions or release.

The repression has not spared minors. Between July 2024 and January 2025, the mission report documented 220 cases of detained children: 187 boys, 22 girls, and 11 whose gender could not be determined.

Some were beaten or tortured. Others faced terrorism charges in juvenile courts presided over by judges who disregarded international protections for children. The mission emphasized that detaining adolescents under such conditions amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Fatal consequences

The Fact-Finding Mission confirmed at least 30 deaths linked to post-election repression:

•25 people killed during protests, often by live ammunition or excessive force.

•Five detainees who died in state custody.

•Three others who died after release due to health deterioration caused by prison conditions.

The U.N. report leaves little doubt about the nature of Venezuela’s post-election crackdown. Abductions in broad daylight, sham judicial proceedings, prolonged solitary confinement, extortion, sexual violence, and the detention of minors and relatives all point to a system designed not just to silence dissent, but to break it.

The mission report concludes these are not isolated cases but part of a deliberate plan, a machinery of repression operating with ruthless efficiency, leaving families shattered and a nation in fear.

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