Inter-American Court condemns Venezuela for violating the rights of Henrique Capriles in the 2013 elections

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court) on Monday condemned the State of Venezuela for the violation of the political rights of former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles during the 2013 elections.

According to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in San José, Costa Rica, during this process it was determined that the rights to freedom of expression, equality before the law, judicial guarantees and judicial protection were violated to the detriment of Capriles, while the apparatus state favored the candidacy of Nicolás Maduro. That, in the opinion of the organization, represents a serious violation of democratic principles.

Capriles, a young lawyer, used his charisma and non-confrontational style to win the support of millions and become an electoral threat to the late President Hugo Chávez in 2012.

Capriles would lose that election, and another the following year after Chávez’s death, to current President Nicolás Maduro. It was during that second race in 2013 that the court ruled Monday that the government violated Capriles’ rights and favored Maduro.

In 2017, the Maduro government banned Capriles from running again for 15 years.

According to the Inter-American Court, Maduro was qualified as a candidate without having renounced his position as “interim president” and was finally declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE) with 50.61% of the votes, while Capriles He was credited with a vote of 49.12%.

In his account on

“We have always looked for ways within the framework of our constitution to recover democracy, institutionality. I hope that day will come when the sacred right to decide your future in PEACE is respected and prevails,” he said.

According to the IACHR Court, the Venezuelan government used state resources to favor Maduro during that electoral campaign; and acts of proselytism were carried out by public officials, pressure on state employees for and disproportionate media coverage in the media in the hands of the state.

He also confirmed that the complaints of irregularities presented by Capriles’ team were not attended to by the CNE.

The Court considered that the actions and omissions of the Venezuelan State undermined the integrity of the electoral process, the political rights of Capriles and affected the right of Venezuelans to freely elect their rulers.

Capriles already had a ruling in his favor from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which had ordered the Venezuelan government to lift the ban on participating in politics, but this was ignored.

In January, the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela ratified Capriles’ ban on political participation until 2032.

Capriles and other opponents of the Maduro government maintain that disqualification has been used by the government, including the Chavez administration, as a political weapon.

In July, Maduro was declared the winner of an election full of irregularities in which the polls collected by the opposition showed that their candidate, Edmundo González, had defeated Maduro by a wide margin.

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