MEXICO CITY, April 30, (AP): A global human rights watchdog on Wednesday urged the United States and other governments to bolster their support for people seeking democratic change in Venezuela and to hold President Nicolás Maduro accountable for the crackdown on dissent he intensified after the country’s presidential election last year.

Human Rights Watch specifically called on the US to consider imposing additional sanctions on Venezuelan government officials and members of state security forces. HRW also called for sanctions on ruling party-loyal armed groups linked to the widespread rights violations that followed the July 28 vote that Maduro claims to have won despite credible evidence to the contrary.

At the same time, the organization recommended the US rescind an executive order President Donald Trump signed in February imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel. The order, according to the watchdog, could affect an ongoing investigation by the court’s prosecutor into possible crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela.

"While the Trump administration has not specifically objected to the Court’s engagement with the situation in Venezuela, the sanctions program appears designed in part to chill broader cooperation with the ICC and intimidate Court officials, and will likely affect the rights of victims globally,” Human Rights Watch said in a report published Wednesday.

The report is the latest work from human rights advocates documenting Venezuela’s post-election repression campaign against members of the political opposition, protesters, bystanders and others. Their findings have implicated state security forces and ruling party-loyal armed groups in killings, torture and other abuses across the country during and after demonstrations that followed the election.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, stacked with government loyalists, declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election. But unlike in previous contests, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts to back the announced result. The opposition, however, collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines and posted them online - showing its candidate, Edmundo González, had won by a more than a 2-1 margin.