Venezuela is a multiparty constitutional democracy with a population of approximately 28 million. International observer missions deemed the elections generally free and fair but noted some irregularities. On September 26, voters elected deputies to the National Assembly. Voting on election day was generally free and fair with scattered reports of irregularities. However, domestic election observers and opposition political parties criticized both the electoral law, claiming it violated the constitutional principle of proportionality, and the government's partisan use of state-owned media.
There were instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control. The following human rights problems were reported by nongovernmental organizations NGOs , the media, and in some cases the government itself: The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, security forces were accused of committing unlawful killings, including summary executions of criminal suspects.
There were several reports that security forces allegedly committed arbitrary or unlawful deprivations of life. The causes of death were categorized as executions, nine cases of excessive use of force, 16 cases of indiscriminate use of force, 10 cases of torture or cruel treatment, and three cases of negligence.
Prosecutors occasionally brought cases against such perpetrators. Sentences frequently were light, and convictions often were overturned on appeal. According to PROVEA, public officials were involved in extrajudicial killings in , the last year for which statistics were available.
There was no information available on the numbers of public officials who received prison sentences for involvement in extrajudicial killings. On September 1, year-old Wilmer Jose Flores Barrios was killed in Aragua State, making him the sixth member of his family to be killed since The IACHR "deplored the fact that members of the Barrios family in Venezuela have been executed extrajudicially without the State having adopted measures to protect the life of these persons or to investigate these crimes.
