IACHR Files Application Before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case Concerning Venezuela About Massacre at El Junquito

December 26, 2023

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed on October 11, 2023, an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case 14,178, with regard to Venezuela. This case concerns the extrajudicial killings of Óscar Pérez and six other people by officers of the State in 2018, during what came to be known as the Massacre of El Junquito, and the subsequent impunity surrounding those events. 

Óscar Pérez, an officer of the country's Scientific, Criminal, and Forensic Corps (CICPC), was considered critical of the Venezuelan government after speaking up against the President and co-founding the group Movimiento Equilibrio Nacional.  

In mid-December 2017, Movimiento Equilibrio Nacional stormed Bolivarian National Guard barracks in San Pedro de Los Altos, near Caracas, and stole several rifles and guns. Later, Óscar Pérez posted a video of those events on Twitter, noting that he had led what he described as "Operation Genesis." That same day, the President ordered the use of force against the group, whose members he described as "terrorists."

In January 2018, about 500 officers of Venezuela's security forces attacked the site in El Junquito where Óscar Pérez and six other victims were. As shown in several videos recorded by Óscar Pérez, the victims surrendered and said they were willing to negotiate. However, State authorities used heavy weapons to storm the building. All victims were killed in the raid.

The autopsies and the photos that were published in the media suggested that they had been executed and dealt coups de grâce. Later, the victims' relatives suffered intimidation, and the State prevented them from holding appropriate funerals.

The Merits Report issued by the Inter-American Commission concluded that this use of lethal force by the State was incompatible with the latter's international obligations. The IACHR found that Venezuela had failed to comply with the principle of absolute necessity and that it had failed to take less harmful measures, leading to the extrajudicial killings of seven individuals who had already surrendered. The Commission noted that the victims were cornered and then executed, which showed violations of the rights to life and humane treatment.

Concerning judicial safeguards, the Commission found, among others, an absence of documentation about the launch of an investigation, the destruction of the site where these events took place, and a failure to preserve evidence.

The IACHR further noted persistent impunity and violations of the rights of victims' families, especially as they were prevented from conducting burials and other funeral rites according to their beliefs to pay their respects to their loved ones. This had an impact on the psychological and moral integrity of affected individuals and amounted to a violation of their right to freedom of conscience and religion.

The Commission found that the State of Venezuela was responsible for violations of the rights to life (Article 4.1), humane treatment (Article 5.1), a fair trial (Article 8.1), freedom of conscience and religion (Article 12), and judicial protection (Article 25.1) held in the American Convention, in keeping with the obligations held in Article 1.1 of the same instrument, to the detriment of the individuals identified in each of the sections in the Merits Report.

The Commission therefore recommended that the State of Venezuela adopt the following redress measures: 

1. Provide comprehensive reparations—both material and immaterial—for all human rights violations 
2. Conduct a diligent and timely investigation into these events, to identify and punish their perpetrators (given the serious nature of these human rights violations, the State may not invoke judicial safeguards like claim preclusion, ne bis in idem, or statutes of limitations to defuse this recommendation)
3. Enabling non-recurrence mechanisms, including (a) providing training for police and military officers concerning international standards about the use of force (including lethal force) and (b) enabling adequate accountability mechanisms to address abuse committed by officers of the security forces.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 316/23

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