Eloísa Barrios
Eloísa Barrios has been vocal in speaking out about the Venezuelan State's failure to effectively protect her family from extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations. She has also actively promoted the committees of victims and families of victims in Aragua, and in particular has mobilised mothers of those extrajudicially killed by the state police and accompanied them through the process of filing complaints, the court process and speaking out in social media.
Eloísa Barrios has worked with the Comisión de Justicia y Paz de Aragua (Justice and Peace Commission of Aragua), the Centro por la Justicia y el Derechos Internacional – CEJIL (Center for Justice and International Law) and the Comité de Familiares de las Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989 – COFAVIC (Committee of Family Members of the Victims of the events that occurred between February 27 and the first days of March of 1989), to publicly denounce human rights violations in Aragua State.
HRDs have been working under restrictive policies for many years: the Maduro administration has continued the work begun by Chávez in restricting civil space and delegitimising HRDs, repeatedly accusing them of undermining the Venezuelan democracy with the alleged collaboration of the United States. HRDs are discredited and criminalised by state-controlled media (television, radio, print media) on a weekly basis.
