Independent U.N. human rights experts say Venezuela’s government has intensified the “harshest and most violent mechanisms of its repressive apparatus” in the wake of the disputed July presidential election.

Venezuela's government "dramatically intensified" efforts to crush peaceful protest and ramped up its repressive machinery following the country's presidential election in July, according to a report from a UN fact-finding mission published Tuesday.

The fact-finding mission found rights violations including arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual and gender-based violence by the country's security forces.