Iraq News Now

Venezuelan security forces have executed several people and

arbitrarily detained hundreds of others in a campaign to punish people who

protested against President Nicolas Maduro, human rights group Amnesty International

said on Wednesday.

In a report titled "Hunger, punishment and fear, the

formula for repression in Venezuela," Amnesty said dozens died during five

days of protests from Jan 21 to Jan 25, almost all from gunshot wounds, and 900

people were arrested.

Amnesty called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to take

action to address the "total impunity that prevails in Venezuela" by

creating an independent investigative body to report on the human rights

situation.

The protests were sparked by opposition leader Juan Guaido's

call for people to demand a change in government after Maduro began a second

term following a vote last year widely considered as fraudulent. Guaido on Jan.

23 invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, though Maduro says

Guaido is leading a US-directed coup against him.

"The authorities under Nicolas Maduro are trying to use

fear and punishment to impose a repulsive strategy of social control against

those who demand change," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at

Amnesty.

"His government is attacking the most impoverished

people that it claims to defend, but instead it murders, detains and threatens

them."

Venezuela's Information Ministry did not respond to a

request to comment.

Amnesty said state authorities carried out extrajudicial

executions as a method of social control, mainly using the National Police's

Special Actions Force (FAES) to target poor areas that had risen up against

Maduro.

The FAES have carried out dozens of deadly raids in recent

weeks. The unit has said reports of abuses are "fake news" spread by

right-wing opponents and their "struggle is against all criminals that

ravage our communities."

Amnesty said 41 people had died, mostly from gunshot wounds,

in protests in late January. It said it had documented six extrajudicial

executions by the FAES of young men linked to the protests.

In one case in the city of Carora, Amnesty said, police beat

up Luis Enrique Ramos Suarez, 29, at his home where 10 relatives were present,

shot him dead and then staged a mock shoot out to cover up the killing.

Amnesty recommended that prosecutors at the International

Criminal Court should consider the facts in its report and possibly incorporate

them in a preliminary examination already underway on Venezuela.