Collecting information

Table of contents

Public sources

The information gathered is a result of research using public, specialised paper-based and electronic sources, as well as oral source interviews during the research period from 13 March to 14 May 2026. Some additional information was added during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback received during the quality control process.

This report has relied upon mainly Spanish-language sources in order to provide added value to the available COI. The expert drafter who wrote this report did so in English using Spanish and English sources. Legislation only available in Spanish was informally translated from Spanish into English by the expert drafter. Due to the volume of Spanish sources used, for the citation of all non-English sources, this report does not signal in the citation that a source is translated. This is for maximal readability and efficiency. In accordance with EUAA COI methodology, a range of different published documentary sources have been consulted on relevant topics for this report. These include:

  • COI reports by governments;

  • information from civil society, advocacy groups, and NGOs;

  • human rights reports by governments and NGOs;

  • reports produced by various bodies of the United Nations (UN) and OAS;

  • Venezuelan government publications, including public statements, laws, policies, media outlets, and reports to the UN;

  • Venezuela-based media and social media;

  • academic publications and think tank reports; and

  • reports of organisations specialised in specific topics, such as armed and criminal groups.

  • All sources used are listed in Annex 1: Bibliography.

Oral sources

In addition to using publicly available documentary sources, two oral sources were interviewed and included in the report. All sources were assessed for their background, publication history, reputability, seriousness of their research, and recognition of their credentials by peers, the media, and international bodies. All interviews conducted by the expert drafter were in Spanish.

All oral sources are described in Annex 1: Bibliography.