A/HRC/45/CRP.11 positions hold the rank of “Commissioner General”. 547 Since 2014, the Director Generals of SEBIN have been the following: Gustavo Enrique González López548 (February 2014 to October 2018); Cristopher Figuera, formerly of DGCIM (October 2018 to April 2019); and again Gustavo González López (April 2019 to present). González López had reassumed the post of SEBIN Director General following the April 2019 uprising attempt in which Mr. Figuera participated. Between March 2015 and August 2016, General González López concurrently held the position of Minister of the Interior. In 2017, he was promoted to General-in-Chief of the military.549 Other Entities within the Ministry of the Interior 214. The Centro Estratégico para la Seguridad y Protección de la Patria (CESSPA), established in January 2014, is a decentralized body within the Ministry of the Interior, which depends on the President.550 Under its establishing resolution, it has powers to collect, process, integrate and analyse information of strategic interest from security and intelligence agencies.551 Former SEBIN director Christopher Figuera told the Mission that while the intelligence agencies are obligated to send sensitive information to the CESSPA in practice the Executive “had a clandestine intelligence information processing centre to make its own decisions”.552 215. On 27 June 2014, President Maduro established a “Special Brigade against the Actions of Groups Generating Violence, within the Ministry of the Interior, but that would respond directly to the President.553 The brigade had the purpose of “coordinating, analysing, evaluating, organizing, directing, executing and collecting the information […] to neutralize and control the activities of groups that generate violence”.554 It is unclear how this brigade was implemented in practice. D. Non-State Armed Groups Colectivos 216. Colectivos are citizen security groups that evolved from the “Bolivarian Circles,” groups formed in the time of Hugo Chávez as grass-roots support for defence of the Bolivarian revolution.555 Since then they have had a complex relationship with the Government and State security forces. While the term colectivo has been used as a catchall to refer to these groups, in practice they operate under parallel command structures. According to an analysis by the investigative organization InSight Crime, some colectivos have morphed into criminal structures.556 217. Information indicates links between the State and these armed groups. President Maduro has mentioned his support to the colectivos on several occasions. On 19 March 2019, after a blackout in Venezuela, President Maduro called on Community Councils, local supply 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 58 Ibid., arts. 22-25. In 2015, the United States issued an executive order imposing sanctions on Mr. González López for human rights violations, noting that he “was associated with the surveillance of Venezuelan Government opposition leaders”. Fact sheet: Venezuela Executive Order,” The White House, 9 March 2015, available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/09/factsheet-venezuela-executive-order. http://www.minci.gob.ve/presidente-maduro-ascendio-general-jefe-gustavo-González-lopez/. Ministry of the Interior Resolution No. 007-14 dated 29 January 2014, Published in the Official Gazette No. No. 40,355 dated 13 February 2014, available at: https://pandectasdigital.blogspot.com/2016/06/reglamento-interno-del-centro.html. Ibid. art. 10. Mission Interview SCHH02 in May 2020. Presidential Decree No. 1014 of 24 June 2014, published in Official Gazette No. 40.440, 24 June 2014; See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQlf0zeY7a4&feature=emb_logo. Ibid. See InSight Crime, The Devolution of State Power: the Colectivos, 19 May 2018, available at: https://www.insightcrime.org/investigations/devolution-state-power-colectivos/. Ibid.