The Daily Journal— Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced Monday night that the National Executive will remove police checkpoints and roadblocks in cities and replace them with a preventive patrol system.
In a message posted on social media, Rodríguez outlined the shift in the government’s public security policy: “In the coming days, we will eliminate police checkpoints in cities and, in their place, strengthen patrol operations to ensure comprehensive security.”
The acting president stressed the importance of aligning public security practices with professional standards and the law: “We believe security requires effective, professional mechanisms that respect people’s rights.”
According to the nongovernmental organization Acceso a la Justicia, “checkpoints are one of the tools most commonly used by police forces in Venezuela to fight crime, but officers have also used them on numerous occasions to commit acts of corruption, extortion and even more serious offenses.”
Before Rodríguez’s announcement, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello had called for reforms to police checkpoints and urged authorities to combat matraqueo, a Venezuelan term for police extortion aimed at extracting money from citizens.
In June, Cabello said authorities had dismissed 22,000 police officers following investigations conducted over approximately a year and a half. He added that officers who detained people to extort money from them had no place in the police force.
