# UN Mission Says Venezuela’s SEBIN and DGCIM Still Unreformed as Prosecutor Curbs Public ‘Perp Walks’

*Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 8:06 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-09-17T20:06:11.324Z (2h ago)
**Category**: humanitarian | **Region**: Latin America
**Importance**: 7/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/18116.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: A UN mission has warned that Venezuela’s intelligence services SEBIN and DGCIM continue to operate without substantive structural or practical reform, even as the attorney general orders an end to publishing images of detainees on official channels.

Venezuela’s core security agencies remain largely unchanged despite new moves to soften the government’s public image, according to a United Nations mission.

In a recent alert, the mission said the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the military counterintelligence agency DGCIM “siguen operando sin reformas sustantivas de sus estructuras y prácticas” — they continue to operate without meaningful changes to how they are built or how they act.

The finding lands just as the country’s attorney general has ordered a halt to one of the most visible parts of Venezuela’s security culture. He instructed that official social media accounts of the Public Ministry delete posts showing detained people or presenting them as responsible for crimes before they have been convicted. The measure is grounded in the presumption of innocence and due process.

For critics, that step addresses humiliating public displays but not what happens inside detention facilities. SEBIN and DGCIM have long been accused by human rights groups and former detainees of abuses including arbitrary detention and mistreatment. The UN mission’s warning suggests that the basic power and methods of these services remain intact behind the scenes.

At the same time, Venezuela is trying to re‑engage internationally and attract investment. The National Assembly has held talks with the Inter‑Parliamentary Union about the legislature’s possible return to the organization, which officials present as a gain for parliamentary diplomacy. The government has also signed an agreement with Heeney Capital to support the mining sector, promising the rehabilitation, modernization and expansion of what it calls responsible, sustainable production in a designated area of the PIM III mining polygon.

These diplomatic and economic steps aim to show a country normalizing its politics and opening for business, even as the UN mission signals that the security apparatus accused of past abuses is still in place.

The next indicators will be concrete. Observers will watch for changes in reported cases of arbitrary detention and torture linked to SEBIN and DGCIM, for any restructuring or prosecutions affecting their leadership, and for how international bodies and investors weigh the UN mission’s findings when they decide whether and how to deepen engagement with Caracas.