| Dichiarazione di motivi del Regno Unito |
Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief FANB, Deputy Minister of Monitoring and Inspection of Government Administration, and Secretary General of the National Defence Council (SECODENA).
José Adelino Ornelas Ferreira has been Second in Command and Chief of Staff of Strategic Command Operations of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB) since June 2017, having been appointed to the post by Nicolas Maduro. The CEOFANB is the highest point of command in the Venezuelan armed forces. The CEOFANB sets the strategic direction of all strands of the Venezuelan military (Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard (GNB)), co-ordinates them, and implements operations. Since September 2020, Ornelas has been the Chief of the General Staff to the Commander in Chief.
There is reliable evidence that the GNB has committed serious human rights violations during Ferreira’s period in charge. A report by OHCHR in 2018 documents incidents of people deprived of their liberty and subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and (in many cases possibly) torture, reportedly carried out in part by the GNB. Some of these incidents occurred in the period that Ferreira has held the position of Commander of the CEOFANB. As a commander of the CEOFANB, and Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief and Strategic Command Operations, and thus in charge of the GNB, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Ferreira was involved in those acts.
There is reliable evidence that the GNB used excessive force against people in the Pemon territory in February 2019, including killing three people, and carried out extrajudicial killings of an alleged terrorist group in El Junquito, Caracas. As a CEOFANB Commander and Chief of Staff at the time, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Ferreira was involved in those grave human rights violations.
Finally, there is reliable evidence that In May 2019 members of the Venezuelan National Guard (GNB), which sits under the command of the CEOFANB, during Ferreira’s time in role, used tear gas to disperse a march of opposition supporters. Due to his role, Ferreira is partially responsible for this repression of civil society and violation of freedom of expression.
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