A/HRC/41/18/Add.1 STATEMENTS ON FACTUAL ERRORS IN THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER’S REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA. 1. On June 28, 2019, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) submitted to the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela an “advance, non-edited version”, in English, of the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Venezuela (A/HRC/41/18). 2. On that occasion, the OHCHR invited the Venezuelan Government to send its comments on the factual errors contained in the aforementioned report, in accordance with the institutional guidelines of that Office. 3. Through the present document, the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela presents its comments on the advance, non-edited version submitted by the OHCHR. General Considerations 4. The report presents a selective and an openly biased vision of the true situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which contradicts the principles that should govern the treatment of human rights issues, set forth in the Vienna Declaration and Action Program. 5. In a large part, this distorted vision of the report is the result of the important weaknesses present in the methodology used for its elaboration. In this document, sources lacking objectivity are excessively privileged and official information is almost entirely excluded, despite all the documents and elements contributed by the State to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 6. Additionally, the report omits the statements from the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council in relation to the situation in Venezuela, including the results of the visits made to the country. 7. In this sense, it is specially worrying that 82%1 of the interviews carried out by the OHCHR to support its report correspond to persons located outside of the territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, especially considering that the mentioned Office carried out two visits to the country during 2019, the first in the month of March with a duration of 12 days and the second, between the 19 and 22 of June, by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 8. Likewise, it is unjustifiable that the OHCHR has prioritized in its analysis the testimonies gathered outside of Venezuela, without considering the elements that the personnel from that Office was able to directly witness during its visits to the country. It is worth remembering that, during the mission carried out in the month of March 2019, the OHCHR was able to visit, for instance, five detention centers2, three hospitals3, an automated warehouse for the collection and distribution of medicine4, an urban residential complex of Venezuela’s Great Housing Mission 5 and two food distribution centers.6 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 According to the Report, the OHCHR carried out 558 interviews, of which 460 were carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Spain. Libertador New Men Formation Center (Carabobo), Sergeant David Viloria New Men Formation Center (Lara), “Ramo Verde” National Center for Processed Military (Miranda), Sebin Helicoide (Capital District) and Zone N° 4 of the Bolivarian National Police (Miranda). Dr. Enrique Tejera Hospital City (Carabobo), Dr. Pastor Oropeza Riera Hospital (Lara) and the “Che Guevara” Comprehensive Diagnosis Center (Capital District). Jipana Automated Warehouse (Lara) Alí Primera Urban Residential Complex (Lara) Cecosesola Cooperative Market (Lara) and a private market located in the state of Lara.