Colectivo (Venezuela)

Colectivos ([ko.lek'ti.βos], lit. 'collectives') are far-left Venezuelan armed paramilitary groups that support the Bolivarian government, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) political alliance and Venezuela's ruling party, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Colectivo has become an umbrella term for irregular armed groups that operate in poverty-stricken areas.

The term may also refer to a community organization with any shared purpose, such as a neighborhood group that organizes social events. Some colectivos began by doing community work or helping with social programs in barrios, and their members said they promoted democracy, political activism and culture.

As of 2019, there are dozens of colectivos in Venezuela. In 2018, InSight Crime reported 46 groups in one barrio (slum), 23 de Enero, alone. By 2017, they operate in 16 Venezuelan states, controlling about 10% of Venezuelan cities. Some personnel of Venezuela's intelligence agencies, including the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence and the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, are also members of colectivos. Colectivos have both legal and illegal funding sources. They were initially funded by the Bolivarian government; some receive funds to distribute government food packages and have access to government "slush funds". Others have been funded by extortion, black-market food and the drug trade.

Human Rights Watch described colectivos as "armed gangs who use violence with impunity" to harass political opponents of the Venezuelan government. Amnesty International calls them "armed pro-government supporters who are tolerated or supported by the authorities". Colectivos have attacked anti-government protesters and Venezuelan opposition television staff, sent death threats to journalists, and once tear-gassed the Vatican envoy. Through violence and intimidation, by 2019 colectivos increasingly became a means of quashing the opposition and maintaining political power; Maduro called on them during the 2019 Venezuelan blackouts.

An Organization of American States report on human rights violations in Venezuela stated that colectivos murdered at least 131 individuals between 2014 and 2017 during anti-government protests. The opposition-led National Assembly of Venezuela designated the colectivos as terrorist groups due to their "violence, paramilitary actions, intimidation, murders and other crimes," declaring their acts as state-sponsored terrorism.

On 16 September 2020, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela concluded in its first report that Venezuelan authorities and colectivos committed "violations amounting to crimes against humanity". The same year, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that it believed there was a "reasonable basis" to believe that "since at least April 2017, civilian authorities, members of the armed forces and pro-government individuals have committed the crimes against humanity".