UN: 5,287 killings in Venezuela security operations in 2018

The UN human rights chief says in a new report that Venezuela's government registered nearly 5,300 killings during security operations last year, saying the deaths stemmed from "resistance to authority." Another 1,569 such killings were recorded in the first four to five months of 2019. The office of Michelle Bachelet decried a "shockingly high" number of extrajudicial killings during the operations.

Bachelet's report focusing on the last 18 months follows her trip to the South American country in June and draws on accounts from rights defenders, victims, witnesses of violations and other sources. Bachelet also called for the disarming and disbanding of pro-government armed groups known as "collectivos." (