After the publication of the report of the United Nations Independent Mission on Venezuela that accused the government of Nicolás Maduro of committing crimes against humanity, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that “it is time for a restructuring of the Special Action Forces (FAES) and all the police forces”.

The Special Action Forces were created in 2016 as “elite corps”, even though there are no documents to certify this and no procedural manuals have been found. It is “the most lethal police institution in Venezuela”, according to the United Nations mission. The team headed by Michelle Bachelet determined that the FAES are responsible for 64.5% of the deaths in 2019.

Although the statement of Attorney General Tarek William Saab would seem to suggest an admission of guilt, he appears far from acknowledging the gravity of the allegations made against the FAES. Although there are no consistent official figures on police related deaths, the annual report by Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia documented, only in 2019, 5,286 deaths caused by “resistance to authority”.