Getty Images
CARACAS, Venezuela (BP) – Religious persecution and human rights violations continue in Venezuela under a firmly entrenched authoritarian regime, CSW reported March 9 as captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores await trial in the U.S.
The Maduro regime under the Socialist Union of Venezuela Party has persecuted Christians there for more than a decade, religious freedom defenders have said.
“With or without Maduro at the helm, the Socialist Union of Venezuela Party remains responsible for widespread human rights violations, including the persecution of religious leaders, the consistent repression of independent civil society, and even the massacre and forced displacement of indigenous groups,” Anna Strang, CSW director of advocacy and Americas team leader, said in releasing the new report. said in releasing the report. “The international community must ensure that any discussions of Venezuela’s uncertain future set benchmarks for the measurable improvements in the protection of freedom of religion or belief, as well as for religious and humanitarian actors, and indigenous peoples and their spiritual rights.”
The Maduros have a March 17 court date on U.S. charges of federal drug trafficking and weapons offenses, and have pleaded not guilty.
CSW’s 16-page report, “Self-Censorship and Social Control: The Situation of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Venezuela,” echoes November 2025 findings from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Venezuela forms with Cuba and Nicaragua an authoritarian triad of religious persecution in Latin America, USCIRF found, and CSW said Venezuela’s model of persecution mimics that of Cuba.
Religious leaders are “routinely targeted for harassment, violence, arbitrary detention, and in some cases enforced disappearance,” CSW wrote in its report, citing concurrent and similar abuse of human rights defenders, prodemocracy groups and those politically opposed to Maduro’s regime.
Maduro established religious benefit programs and sponsored religious ceremonies to downplay criticism of the persecution, CSW said, while Venezuela’s constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms are denied.
“While some religious groups have accepted preferential treatment in exchange for their loyalty,” CSW said, “others which have denounced the dictatorship and refused these incentives have faced discrimination and in some cases have been accused of ‘incitement to hatred’ or ‘threats to public order.’”
Among the benefit programs Maduro established to incentivize support from religious leaders is the Good Pastor Bonus, which as recently as May 2025 offered certain pastors a monthly bonus of roughly $2.60 (1,050 bolivars). Designed for pastors registered with the Homeland System and affiliated with the pro-Maduro Evangelical Christian Movement for Venezuela, the stipend is enough to buy about 2 lbs. of beef, which CSW described as “a not insignificant amount in extremely impoverished areas.” About 20,000 pastors received the stipend in 2025.
Early in his presidency that began in 2013, Maduro initiated a “combative relationship” with Roman Catholic leaders, CSW said, refusing to renew residential permits for religious personnel, and continuing to promote an “Our Chavez” prayer (started under former president Hugo Chávez) to replace the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.
Reports of Venezuela’s religious composition vary, but CSW cites a 2011 census describing the country as 71 percent Roman Catholic and 17 percent Protestant, with 8 percent citing no religion. Bahai’s, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Muslims, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints and followers of folk religions are also present.
The U.S. government should add Venezuela to the Special Watchlist for religious freedom violations and add the National Liberation Army to the list of Entities of Particular Concern for severe religious freedom violations in both Colombia and Venezuela, CSW recommends, as well as actively address religious persecution in Venezuela.
USCIRF and the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom should seek opportunities to tour Venezuela and meet freely with religious groups there, CSW said, and urged the U.S. State Department to “actively engage in and provide support” to international efforts to stop illegal and criminal groups there.
“The US Congress and the State Department should provide support for efforts in Venezuela to move towards democracy and establish rule of law with respect for fundamental human rights, including FoRB (freedom of religion or belief,” CSW said, and also offered supportive recommendations for the governments of Venezuela, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United Nations to speed the transformation.
Read the report here.
