GENEVA - The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Jürg Lauber (Switzerland), has appointed Alex Neve (Canada) and Maria Eloisa Quintero (Argentina/Mexico) to serve as members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The experts succeed Francisco Cox Vial (Chile) and Patricia Tappatá Valdez (Argentina) on the three-person panel. They join Marta Valiñas (Portugal), who has served as chair of the Mission since it was established.
The Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela was established on 27 September 2019 by United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 42/25 to assess alleged human rights violations committed in the country since 2014. With resolution 57/36, the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission was extended by the Council until October 2026.
In September 2025, the Mission reported to the Human Rights Council that persecution in Venezuela was "intensifying". Its report revealed new evidence of the harsh post-election repression following the 28 July 2024 presidential poll, and the Mission warned that politically motivated persecution, including against those who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms, has continued in 2025.
Biographies of the new members of the Fact Finding Mission
Alex Neve (Canada)
Mr. Neve is a visiting and adjunct professor in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, and a Senior Fellow with the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada from 2000-2020. Mr. Neve has taken part in more than 40 human rights investigative missions around the world and in Canada. Mr. Neve has also served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, taught at Osgoode Hall Law School, been affiliated with York University's Centre for Refugee Studies, and worked as a refugee lawyer in private practice and in a community legal aid clinic. Mr. Neve is an Officer of the Order of Canada and is also the 2025 CBC Massey Lecturer, addressing the theme of "Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World" in five nationwide lectures and an associated book. Mr. Neve holds an LL.B. from Dalhousie University and a master's degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex.
Maria Eloisa Quintero (Argentina/Mexico)
Ms. Quintero holds a doctorate in Law from Austral University and a law degree from the National University of the Litoral, Argentina. She is an expert in investigating complex cases, with over 25 years of experience as a researcher and professor in various Latin American countries. She has led technical and academic teams dedicated to the multidisciplinary analysis of serious human rights violations and criminal cases related to organized crime, corruption, enforced disappearance, human trafficking, migration, money laundering and other issues. She has recently worked in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Colombia, where she has collaborated closely with authorities, international organizations, and civil society. She was a principal investigator at the National Institute of Criminal Sciences (INACIPE) for over 10 years and Head of the Investigation and Litigation Department of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) from 2017 until its closure, leading more than 60 criminal investigations against high-ranking officials, illicit political and economic networks, and illegal bodies and clandestine security apparatuses. She has been a consultant for several institutions. She collaborated for many years with the Foundation for Justice and the Democratic Rule of Law (FJEDD). She completed several pre-doctoral research stays at the University of Bonn, Germany, and at the Universities of Seville, Castilla-La Mancha and Barcelona, Spain. She is the author of several articles and books. Currently, she is the founder and co-director of PANORÁMICA (International Center of Experts in Research and Analysis of Complex Cases), and a professor at the Pan-American University in Mexico and other Latin American institutions.
