El Comandante

Sep
11
2012
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ICYMI: Venezuela’s government begins process of withdrawing from OAS human rights bodies

The Washington Post via Associated Press
September 10, 2012

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela has begun the process of pulling out of two human rights bodies by formally withdrawing from a regional human rights pact, the Organization of American States said Monday.

Venezuela’s government notified OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza that it is renouncing the American Convention on Human Rights, the OAS said in a statement.

It said Insulza regrets that decision, calling the human rights convention “one of the pillars of the legal regulations” aimed at defending human rights in the Americas.

Venezuela’s decision means that after one year it will no longer be a party to the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights or the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“The Secretary General expressed his hope that … Venezuela may reconsider its decision,” the OAS said.

The human rights convention says countries may renounce the document “by means of notice given one year in advance.” It also says that process won’t release any withdrawing party in the meantime from obligations in the convention.

The Venezuelan government didn’t immediately comment on the matter.

President Hugo Chavez announced in July that he planned to pull out of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after it sided with a Venezuelan, Raul Diaz, who was accused of participating in 2003 bombings of the Spanish Embassy and Colombian consulate in Caracas. Four people were injured in those attacks.

Diaz was sentenced to more than nine years in prison, but in 2010 he fled the country after a court allowed him out for work during certain hours. He sought asylum in the United States. Diaz has long maintained he had no role in the attacks and has accused Venezuelan authorities of violating his rights in the case.

Chavez accused the court of “supporting terrorism” by siding with Diaz.

Venezuelan human rights groups have warned that if Chavez’s government withdraws from such bodies, victims of rights abuses would have fewer venues in which to make their cases.

Chavez said previously that he favored the idea of pulling out of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, accusing it of wrongly campaigning against his government and acting at the behest of the U.S. government.

Henrique Sanchez Falcon, a law professor at Central University of Venezuela, called the government’s decision a negative step, saying if Venezuela does withdraw from the rights bodies it would constitute a violation of the country’s own constitution and would require changes to some articles.

Human rights activist Liliana Ortega, who heads the Venezuelan rights group Cofavic, condemned the government’s action.

“We appeal for restraint and for this decision to be overturned because we also think it’s a very serious political mistake to do it at this time, and not only in the electoral context but also for the message it sends to the world,” Ortega said in a telephone interview.

Chavez is seeking another six-year term in the country’s Oct. 7 presidential election.

To read this article on The Washington Post, please click here.

 
Jul
18
2012
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Human Rights Watch: Chávez Abuses Power, Intimidates Opponents

Hugo Chavez Frias Campaigni Human Rights Watch: Chávez Abuses Power, Intimidates Opponents

Courtesy of: Reuters / Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday released its second report on Venezuela in the past four years and for Venezuelans, the findings are not encouraging. The 133-page report titled “Tightening the Grip: Concentration and Abuse of Power in Chávez’s Venezuela” criticizes the Venezuelan government for consolidating power in the executive branch, eroding human rights protections, and using its authority to intimidate, censor and prosecute its critics.

The report is a follow-up to 2008′s “A Decade Under Chávez,” a 230-page documentation of how the president had “squandered an historic opportunity to shore up the country’s democratic institutions and strengthen the protection of human rights in Venezuela.”

This new report picks up where the last one left off, confirming the further deterioration of the human rights situation in Venezuela. HRW depicts how in recent years, the Chavez-controlled majority in the National Assembly has expanded the government’s ability to limit speech and punish critics. It also documents the 2010 “re-packing” of the Supreme Court with Chávez supporters, a solid rejection of the principle that the judiciary should serve as a check on presidential power. The court and Chávez administration have also dismissed the authority of the Inter-American system of human rights, leaving aggrieved Venezuelans virtually no code of behavior or international body to turn to if they have had their rights violated.

“For years, President Chávez and his followers have been building a system in which the government has free rein to threaten and punish Venezuelans who interfere with their political agenda,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Today that system is firmly entrenched, and the risks for judges, journalists, and rights defenders are greater than they’ve ever been under Chávez.”

Human Rights Watch uses several incidents, both in the courts and the media, to illustrate the concentration of power under President Hugo Chávez and the effect that concentrated power has on Venezuelan democracy. They document, for instance, how government intimidation and the threat of punishment have hindered the ability of judges to rule objectively, and have cowed into submission journalists and human rights defenders, many of whom fear the consequences of publishing information and opinions critical of the government.

The report reads: “The accumulation of power in the executive, the removal of institutional safeguards, and the erosion of human rights guarantees have given the Chávez government free rein to intimidate, censor, and prosecute Venezuelans who criticize the president or thwart his political agenda. In the past four years, President Chávez and his supporters have used these powers in a wide range of cases…”

The report provides recommendations on how to reverse the damage, which include restoring the independence of the Supreme Court, establishing an independent agency to administer broadcasting frequencies and repealing legislation that threatens the work of local human rights defenders. Unfortunately, given Chávez’s adversarial stance towards the organization, Vivanco believes it is unlikely that he will take the steps needed to ensure that Venezuela is no longer numbered among the countries who disregard democratic accountability and human rights.

 
Jul
16
2012
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ICYMI: Wall Street Journal and New York Times document Chavez’s media manipulation

Chávez’s War on the Media
Venezuela is holding a presidential election, but the president has squelched free speech.
The Wall Street Journal
July 15, 2012
By Mary Anastasia O’Grady

Argentine press freedom award goes to Hugo Chavez 300x211 ICYMI: Wall Street Journal and New York Times document Chavezs media manipulation

Courtesy of: UPI / Maryam Rahmanian

Suppose the country you live in is holding a presidential election and the incumbent is running for another term. Suppose further that the economy is in bad shape. The ranks of the unemployed and poor have swelled, the government is spendthrift, and the central bank is no longer independent.

The president takes no responsibility. He blames everything on the rich. He says they are exploiting the working classes and don’t pay their fair share in taxes. Fomenting class envy and resentment is his stock in trade. Now suppose there is no independent media.

Welcome to Venezuela. Think the country can hold a fair presidential election?

South America’s oil dictatorship kicked off the campaign season on July 1. Hugo Chávez, who has been the commander in chief of the military government since 1999, hopes to keep his job when Venezuelans go to the polls on Oct. 7. Henrique Capriles Radonski, the former governor of the state of Miranda, is out to unseat him.

Outside observers, including the international media, are treating the race like a real battle of ideas. But how can that be when there is no free speech?

Let’s put aside for a moment all the obvious problems. Forget about the lack of an independent electoral body to ensure fairness in voter registration, at polling stations, and when tallying ballots. Forget about how Mr. Chávez makes up rules as he goes along and then gets the judiciary that he controls to bless them. Forget too that the state-owned oil monopoly (known by the Spanish-language initials PdVSA) is his campaign war chest, and the central bank prints money on demand. For now, consider only the military dictatorship’s capacity to control the message…

To read the rest of this article on The Wall Street Journal, please click here.

Extreme Home Makeover: Chávez Edition
The New York Times
July 13, 2012
By William Neuman

14venezuela span articleLarge 300x186 ICYMI: Wall Street Journal and New York Times document Chavezs media manipulation

Courtesy of: Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

EJIDO, Venezuela — Every Thursday, the state-run television channel here presents a live national broadcast of what might be called “Extreme Home Makeover: Socialist Edition.” It is part reality TV, part game show and part full-throated campaign rally.

The programming features top aides to President Hugo Chávez handing over new apartments and houses to down-on-their-luck Venezuelans, who respond with telegenic tears and expressions of gratitude to Mr. Chávez, who is running for re-election.

“I want to send a message to all the people in shelters, to have faith and keep up hope,” said Ramón Rondón, 64, on a recent broadcast, standing in the kitchen of his new apartment in a government-built development called El Cobre. A white-haired pro-Chávez activist, Mr. Rondón added, “This is a victory of the revolution.”

A short time later, Mr. Rondón’s wife, María Monsalvi, 54, relaxed in a new armchair, part of the furniture, including a sofa, beds, a kitchen table and chairs, provided by the government. Above Ms. Monsalvi’s head was a photo of Mr. Chávez hung by the show’s producers. Because her apartment was featured on television, she was given a deluxe “presidential line” of furnishings. She marveled at her good fortune after losing her home in a mudslide and then spending a year in a cramped shelter. “I felt like I won the lottery,” she said.

For Americans weary of underwater mortgages and housing booms and busts, there is surely something novel in Venezuela’s approach to its own housing crisis. The government estimates that in a country of 29 million people, 2.7 million families need new homes, either because they are homeless, the homes they live in are inadequate or multiple families are crowded together under one roof.

The giveaways are a prime example of how Mr. Chávez has been able to maintain popular support for nearly 14 years, despite out-of-control crime, erratic basic services and stubborn poverty. By making a show of delivering new homes to some, he keeps alive hope among many others that they too might some day benefit from the same largess.

Recovering from cancer treatments, Mr. Chávez has been far less visible in public than at any other time of his presidency. But his housing giveaways continue, whether he is there to personally hand over the keys to the dwellings himself or not. He finances the new homes with the country’s vast oil income and promotes the giveaways through the “Housing Thursday” broadcasts and television commercials that are essentially government-paid ads for Mr. Chávez’s candidacy. He recently gave a new apartment to a woman for becoming his three millionth follower on Twitter…

To read the rest of this article on The New York Times, please click here.