Washington, D.C., Sept. 18.– Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Foro Penal today published a new report outlining patterns of political repression in Venezuela following the July 2024 presidential elections, and the 2025 parliamentary 
and regional elections. The report, titled Electoral Repression, Enforced Disappearances and Political Control in Venezuela, analyzes how President Nicolas Maduro’s regime has increasingly utilized enforced disappearances and hostage-taking to silence political opposition, ensure domestic control, and barter with other countries. The report’s publication follows RFK Human Rights and Foro Penal’s recent presentation of their findings to key stakeholders in Geneva, including diplomatic delegations.
“Last summer, the world watched as the Venezuelan government used every tool at its disposal to prevent a free and fair election and suppress political dissent,” said Isabel C. Roby, Senior Staff Attorney at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “Unfortunately, these blatant human rights violations are not new. Venezuela’s current crisis reflects deeper structural and institutional trends that entwine repression with governance.”
Building upon two prior joint reports in 2020 and 2022, this new report examines how enforced disappearance continues to be deployed as part of the Maduro regime’s evolving criminal policy, specifically in relation to the three most recent election processes: the July 2024 presidential election, the May 2025 parliamentary and gubernatorial elections, and the July 2025 municipal election. The report also includes two new datasets that analyze over 200 cases of detention and enforced disappearance, both within the general population and within a new target demographic – foreign nationals and dual citizens. The data illustrates how the Maduro regime has increasingly weaponized detention not only for domestic control but as a bargaining chip in international relations and foreign policy.
“Enforced disappearance of political detainees in Venezuela has become a systematic and effective tool of political control and coercion,” said Alfredo Romero, President of Foro Penal ...
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