Police Brutality in Venezuela

The CICP kills like the FAES

2020
Contents
1. Executive Summary

2.- Introduction

3.- Description of the State security forces

4.- Findings

5.- Special report

6 .- Conclusions
I Executive Summary 
Due to the alarming increase in extrajudicial executions in Venezuela, as in
2018 Proiuris has concentrated efforts on consistently documenting cases of
extrajudicial executions. 

In a context of generalized impunity, our organization remains at the service of victims of

excesses in the use of public force , through the visibility of their complaints and the
monitoring of their demands for justice .

Or e offer stories alternates the official versions on the performance of the security forces

of the State , which , usually , stigmatize those killed as criminals and without research tax
some or mediation of a court competent, quick legal qualification the facts as cases of
resistance to authority .

In the advancement of our line of investigation , we have identified 16 patterns of action of

the security forces, as well as the emergence of new perpetrators, from the direct
documentation of cases.

Last year research (May 2019 - May 2020)  determined that the Special Action Forces
(FAES) is the state security corp involved in cases of alleged extrajudicial executions. In
the first half of the study period, the FAES totalize 62.08% of the cases studied and in the
second half 46.26%

The main finding in the last semester is the increase in the participation of the Scientific ,
Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC): from 13.05% in the first semester of
the study to 28.35% of the cases corresponding to the second semester. 

In Caracas, the performance of the CICPC in procedures that conclude in deaths

constitutes 45% of the cases directly documented by Proiuris, in which 6 of the 16
patterns were identified[1] over acting.

During the last period of investigation, which included field work and monitoring, we were
able to identify 155 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions perpetrated, 74% of which
correspond to two State security corps: the FAES and the CICPC. During the last study
period, an increase of 15 percentage points was detected in the cases where there was
participation of officials from the CICPC.

We have detected the participation of 8 enforcement of the State security corps in this

period of study, which are FAES, CICPC, CONAS, GNB, DGCIM, SEBIN, GAES and DIEP
and the incursion of police state and municipal, as cases of Lara police and
municipality Sucre Miranda State police. 
 

 I I Introduction
The excesses of the security forces of the Venezuelan State, which have their extreme
expression in the increase in extrajudicial executions, are systematic in
nature. At Proiuris we have analyzed the official narrative around the idea of
"a strong hand against the underworld" and its importance in public opinion . We identify a
warmongering rhetoric that deviates from international standards on the differentiated,
proportional and progressive use of public force. 

Making an abstraction of the documented cases in Caracas, we propose to show in this

report the findings in the actions of the CICPC, in-depth documented cases and particular
action patterns. 

III Description of the State security forces 

Of the total number of State security corps involved in the alleged commission
of extrajudicial executions , the study focuses on the Special Actions Forces (FAES) of the
Bolivarian National Police and the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps
(CICPC), totaling 74% of documented cases Proiuris e n Caracas in the last 6 months . 

 
 
1. Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corp (CICPC)

Creation: 2001

Address: Commissioner General Douglas Rico 

What is currently the Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations has its origins
in the late 1950s and the end of the Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship, and the
elimination of the infamous National Security (SN) from the Ministry of the Interior , which
generated the need to create a police investigation group to fill the void left by the fall of
SN.

With that objective, the president of the Civic-Military Board, Rear Admiral Wolfang
Larrazábal , decides to create a police force dedicated to criminal investigation : the
Technical Corps of the Judicial Police or CTPJ, better known as the Judicial Technical
Police or PTJ, conceived as an organ auxiliary to the Judicial Power and dependent
on the Ministry of Justice, and made official by decree No. 48 of the Board.
The organization's structure and operation were originally established by the Judicial
Police Law , dated July 8, 1975, which was replaced by the Criminal Investigations Police
Law , dated September 11, 1998.

The creation of the CICPC is based on the 1999 Constitution, which establishes in its
article 332, numeral 2:

“The National Executive, in order to maintain and restore public order, protect citizens,
homes and families, support the decisions of the competent authorities and ensure the
peaceful enjoyment of constitutional guarantees and rights, in accordance with the law,
will organize :

A corp of scientific, penal and criminalistic research”

On May 9, 2001, it was published in the Official Gazette No. 37,193 a resolution by which
it is provided that the then Directorate General of the Technical Corps of Judicial Police is
named: National Directorate of Criminal Investigation (Technical Police Judicial). This
denomination lasts a few months.  

The National Executive on November 9, 2001 promulgates Decree No. 1,511, the "Law of
Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps". This law is consolidated as the
central framework in criminal investigation in the country and comes into effect on
November 24, 2001 and as of that date the name of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal
Investigations Corps is formally established.

The structure and organization of the CICPC is established by resolution No. 239 of the
Ministry of Planning and Development, dated March 28, 2003. This organizational
change included the creation of a new structure with six important
National Coordinations : National Coordination of Human Resources, National
Coordination of Administrative Support, National Coordination of Special Units, National
Coordination of Criminalistics, National Coordination of Criminal Investigations and
National Coordination of Forensic Sciences.                            

On January 5, 2007 comes into effect the Law of the Corp of Scientific, Penal and Criminal
Investigations , to regulate the organization, operation and competence of the Corp of
Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations , as well as the performance of or organs of
special jurisdiction and support in criminal investigations.

This last law is replaced by the current "Organic Law of the Investigative Police Service,
the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps and the National Institute of
Forensic Medicine", issued by Decree No. 9,045, dated June 15, 2012 , published in the
Official Gazette of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela No. 6,079 Extraordinary, of the
same date. This law defines the operation, mission and principles that should govern the
corp. 

Article 48. Nature .: The Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations is the
decentralized corp of criminal investigation and citizen security, administratively and
functionally dependent on the Ministry of Popular Power with competence in matters of
citizen security.

The Corps of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations is the main corp of criminal
investigation; it has a civil, public, permanent, professional and organized nature. It will be
deployed throughout the national territory to guarantee the exercise of the criminal
investigation.

 
In Article s 50, 51 and 52 of the Organic Law of the Police Service of Investigation, the
Corp of Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations and the National Institute of Forensic
Medicine was established n the functions of the organ in question. Likewise, the
aforementioned Law also expresses in its article 53 prohibited activities or functions of this
security corp, which are important to point out:

Article 53. Of the prohibited activities for the Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal
Investigations:

The Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations may not perform, exercise or
carry out the following functions, attributions, competences or activities:

1. Functions of the preventive police forces, regulated by the Organic Law of the Police
Service and Bolivarian National Police Corps.             

2. Keep people in custody at their headquarters or at any detention or deprivation of liberty

centers.             

3. Transfer and custody of detainees, detainees or persons deprived of liberty, except in

the case of arrests or apprehensions during the time essential for their delivery to a
detention center.             

4. Practice notifications and court summons.             

5. Execute judicial decisions in matters of a non-criminal nature, except in the case of the
search, location and apprehension of natural persons.             
6. Protection of victims, witnesses and other procedural subjects, except in cases where it
is of strategic interest for the development of a criminal investigation advanced p or the
Corp of Scientific, Penal and Criminal own.             

7. Execute arrest or arrest warrants, except in those investigations carried out by the
Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps itself.             

Likewise, the aforementioned Law that regulates this corp establishes provisions relating
to its organization, highlighting its following articles: 

Article 54. Organization and operation: The organizational and functional structure of the
Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations will be defined in the respective
organic regulations. 

Article 55. Of the Director or Director of the Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal
Investigations: The Corp of Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations will be in
charge of a Director or Director designated or designated by the Minister of Popular Power
with competence in matters of citizen security, and will be freely appointed and removed. 

Command:Chain

Scientific, Penal and Criminalistic Research Corp

2.                 Special Actions Force (FAES).

Creation: April 2016. Officially presented on July 14, 2017

The FAES were originally created to combat the crime boom in Venezuela. They arise
after the controversial operations known as the People's Liberation Operation
(PLO) between 2015 and 2016 the PLO used brutal methods of repression that
compromised personal integrity and life, among other rights violated through indiscriminate
raids on poor neighborhoods in the country.

The FAES inherited and deepened the procedures of extreme violence of the PLO and
with good reason they have been classified as an extermination group, which imposes
terror in the neighborhoods and acts as a shock group in the face of the most diverse
contingencies, including the repression of the anti-government protests.

Officially, its main mission is to combat crime in different parts of the country, particularly in
the so-called popular areas or "neighborhoods" and it has approximately 1.600 troops ,
according to official records .

FAES are an elite corp of the Bolivarian National Police , which is attached to the Ministry
of Interior, Justice and Peace . In practice, they act autonomously and, despite being
attributed the highest number of alleged extrajudicial executions recorded in Venezuela,
they have the explicit, public and unrestricted support of Nicolás Maduro .

Special Action Forces are integrated by the following units and addresses:

1. Intelligence and Strategy Directorate (DIE)   

2. National Anti-drug Directorate (DNA)   

3. Directorate Against Organized Crime (DCDO)   

4. Anti-extortion and Kidnapping Directorate (DAES)   

5. Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DIP)   

6. Canine Operations Unit (K.9)   

7. Motorized Brigade (BM)   

8. Public Order Directorate (DOP)   

Chain of command:

According to the organization set out in the Regulation:

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Bolivarian National Police Corps (CPNB)

Special Actions Forces (FAES)

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According to the organization chart of the official page:

Bolivarian National Police Corps (CPNB)

Special Actions Forces (FAES)

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IV.- Findings 
Based on the cases directly documented by Proiuris in Caracas and the Lara state, as
well as press monitoring in 23 states of Venezuela , between December 1 , 2019 and May
15, 2020, we have the following findings:

1) Extrajudicial executions in Venezuela are increasing, CICPC is a police corp who

stopped being scientific to join the killing of Venezuelans through extrajudicial
executions.     
 
2) Between December 2019 and the first week of May 2020, 1,020 people were
allegedly executed at the hands of police officers in the national territory. Not even
the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped police brutality.     
 
3) The FAES kills and the CICPC also. The scientific police appear as the second state
security corp most involved in alleged extrajudicial executions .     
 
4) The five states with the highest number of death s hands of the CICPC are :
Miranda (44 persons), Aragua (32 persons), Zulia (30 persons), Bolivar (27
persons), Carabobo (21personas) .     
 
5) The 5 states with the highest number of deaths at the hands of the FAES: Miranda:
(62 people), Zulia (43 people), Lara (39 people), Capital District (15 people), Sucre
(11 people) .     
 
6) 15 massacres were documented in the study period ; that is to say, cases of five or
more deaths in the same police operation.     
 
7) The lethal actions of the State security forces are concentrated in the popular
neighborhoods.     
 
8) What the police and military call "saturation operations" in practice are indiscriminate
raids through which a state of siege is imposed and the principles of proportional,
progressive and differentiated use of the public force are violated. More recently,
this type of ration has been applied in prisons. Both in the neighborhoods and in
the prisons the risk of massacre is permanent.       
 
9) The CICPC massacres as much as the FAES. Recorded eight slaughter involving
the FAES and 6 slaughter with participation of the CICPC .       

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States with the largest numbers of deaths by FAES hands:

States with the largest numbers of deaths by CICPC hands:

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 CICPC massacres as much as FAES
CICPC has been the head of many the operations that end in massacres, which
means more than five deaths. This “scientific” corp has been involved in 6
massacres between december 2019 and may 2020. It seems that CICPC wants to
displace FAES as the main alleged extrajudicial executions perpetrator:

In Caracas FAES go first

In Caracas metropolitan area FAES have overcome 100% the CICPC in alleged
extrajudicial executions perpetrator but the “scientific” corp have the second place in this
shaming ranking:

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CICPC modus operandi

1. Denial of immediate and effective relief 

The denial of immediate relief is one of the most recurrent patterns

in CICPC's actions related to alleged extrajudicial executions.

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2.                 Shots in vital areas

Shooting at vital areas of the victim's corp (mostly to the chest) is another of the recurring
practices of CICPC officials . Due to an abrupt loss of blood fluids ( hypovolemic shock ),
shots in vital areas cause death almost immediately.

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3.                 Targeted young men

Young men between 18 and 31 years old are the main victims of extrajudicial executions
by officials of the CICPC . 

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4.                 Violent entry into homes

 
 “They arrive by knocking down the door and taking relatives out of the place. This is one
of the patterns that has been repeated the most in the actions of CICPC officials during the
monitoring carried out since December 2019 and May 2020 "

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5.                 Fighting simulation

 
In 100% of the cases, the official versions of the alleged extrajudicial executions indicate
that the victims opened fire on the police officers, in this case the CICPC .

6.                 Viciousness in the slums

CICPC's actions that lead to alleged extrajudicial executions are concentrated in the poor

neighborhoods of the country.

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V.- Special Report

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The CICPC kills as much as the FAES[two]
The FAES kills and also the CICPC. Through environmental monitoring and direct
documentation of cases in the Metropolitan Area of Caracas and Lara state, it was
determined that the scientific police appear as the second state security corp most
involved in alleged extrajudicial executions .

 
VI.- Conclusions
 Venezuelan security forces operate away from national and international standards on
the differentiated, proportional and progressive use of force . Cases of deaths at the hands
of police officers increase every day as well as extreme brutality in each of their actions.

From a sample taken from our monitoring of the environment in 167 days, 1,020 people
died at the hands of the State security forces. This represents that more than 6 people
died daily from this cause.

The profile of the victims is the same in all the cases documented during this period:
young, dark and poor men. This represents a policy that seeks to stigmatize poverty and
dehumanize the dead as something they deserve.

The increase in the cases perpetrated by the CICPC has been sustained in the last year of
the study, which went from 13.05% of the cases in the first semester of the study to
28.35% of the cases corresponding to the second semester.

In Caracas, the actions of the CICPC in procedures that lead to deaths constitute 45% of
the cases directly documented by Proiuris, in which 6 of the 16 patterns of excessive
action were identified.

[1] Proiuris. La  Faes Mata, Patrones . November 2019. Available

at: https://proiurisac.wixsite.com/lasfaesmatan/patrones
[2] Proiuris. The CICPC kills as much as the FAES  . May 2020.Available at: https://www.proiuris.org/?
page_id=59991
 

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