On April 16, DPLF convened the roundtable Corruption, Organized Crime, and Human Rights in the Inter-American Human Rights System: The Case of Venezuela, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and the Ius Constitutionale Commune in Latin America (ICCAL) project. The discussion was grounded in the standards developed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which conceptualize organized crime as one of the region’s major contemporary challenges. The event highlighted how this multidimensional phenomenon weakens the rule of law, fuels impunity, and undermines the effective enjoyment of human rights, as well as its links to corruption and institutional capture.
Within this framework, the discussion addressed how corruption can become systemic when it involves high levels of power, distorts the functioning of the State, and weakens justice systems, with direct consequences for democratic oversight mechanisms. The case of Venezuela provided a basis for analyzing the convergence of economic and humanitarian crises, institutional co-optation by criminal networks, and serious human rights violations, as well as the consolidation of structures that connect corruption, organized criminal networks, and the use of security and justice institutions to ensure impunity.
The dialogue featured the participation of Norma A. C. Colledani Tora, Coordinator of Technical Cooperation and Public Policies at the IACHR; Mercedes de Freitas, Executive Director of Transparencia Venezuela; José Ugaz, attorney and scholar specializing in criminal law, widely recognized for his work in the fight against corruption; Jan-Michael Simon and Mariela Morales Antoniazzi, Senior Researchers at the Max Planck Institute; and Katya Salazar, DPLF’s Executive Director.
Photo credits: Max Planck Institute.
