Geneva, Switzerland - Venezuela has reportedly maintained its "repressive apparatus," responsible for detentions and disappearances, despite the abduction of longtime leader Nicolás Maduro in January.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela said it had seen "a significant decline in long-term detentions and related enforced disappearances" since US forces abducted Maduro.
It added, however, that while many political detainees had been released and there was greater scope for political gatherings, "these changes have not been accompanied by the institutional reforms required to ensure a meaningful and sustained improvement in the human rights situation."
"Numerous laws used to criminalize dissent remain in force," the mission said in a statement as it prepares to hand its report to the UN Human Rights Council on Friday.
"And the country's extensive intelligence services and security forces retain essentially the same structures, policies, and practices."
It said no moves had been made to dismantle the "colectivos" – progovernment armed groups the investigators called a "central component" of the state's repressive apparatus.
At least 19 officials are still in work despite being accused of violations, the investigators said.
"The reduction in some of the harshest forms of repression is notable, but it does not yet amount in any way to a transformation of the system that made them possible," said mission leader Sofia Macher, noting that improvements are "fragile and reversible."
Maduro, 63, is now in detention in New York facing charges of trafficking tonnes of cocaine into the US. Meanwhile, the ruling party is about to start a new round of talks with opposition groups this week on how to handle the post-Maduro transition.
After talks last month, the Venezuelan presidency announced the release of 131 political prisoners, though NGOs were only able to confirm around 80 releases and estimate over 300 remain detained.