GENEVA: "Unprecedented" repression including arbitrary use of power is plunging Venezuela into an acute human rights crisis, as Caracas steps up efforts to quash all opposition, a UN fact-finding mission said Tuesday. Following President Nicolas Maduro's re-election in July, contested by opposition groups and part of the international community, protest demonstrations have left 27 people dead and 192 injured, while around 2,400 people have been arrested, official sources say.

The repression, which has reached "unprecedented levels of violence," is "orchestrated by the highest civilian and military levels of government, including President Maduro", mission chair Marta Valinas told a press conference in presenting its latest report. "Some of the human rights violations we have investigated during this period are a continuation of (acts) that we have previously described as crimes against humanity," Valinas said.

"Venezuela's government has dramatically intensified efforts to crush all peaceful opposition to its rule, plunging the nation into one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history," the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission says in the report.

The expert mission, with which Caracas refuses to cooperate, charges that "the repressive response of the state" to the demonstrations since July "marked a new stage in the deterioration of the rule of law". Valinas further detailed violations the report documented which "were not the result of isolated or random acts but were committed as part of a coordinated plan to silence, discourage and quash opposition to the government of President Maduro". "We are witnessing an intensification of the state's repressive machinery in response to what it perceives as critical views, opposition or dissent," she said. — AFP