Venezuela’s machinery of repression: Inside the U.N.’s harrowing 2025 human-rights report

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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 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 voteOn 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.