Human rights under fire in Venezuela

Human Rights

March 7

Venezuela will not leave the Inter-American Court
The Venezuelan government will not think it over and follow the advice of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) in December 2008 to denounce the American Convention of Human Rights and pull out of the Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). This is what Venezuela's representative Germán Saltrón said.

"We will not leave the Inter-American system. We will continue coming here to tell our true," the high-ranking officer told El Universal last Wednesday, March 3, in San José, Costa Rica, after a hearing held at the international court on March 1-2 on the political disqualification of ex Chacao Mayor Leopoldo López by the Comptroller General.

Saltrón remarks are most important, because he is the first senior officer to issue an opinion on the suggestion made last September 2009 by TSJ President Luisa Estella Morales. At that time, the Justice recommended the establishment of a new court on human rights and leaving the IACHR Court.

"Venezuela has tackled, even in the decisions of the Constitutional Court, the lack of legal effect and above all, the legitimate status of institutions, such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which has not been for our country a guarantor of the autonomy of our judiciary," the Justice elaborated in a meeting with court authorities of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).

Morales' remarks refer to two decisions issued lately by the court based in Costa Rica against the TSJ, concerning the way of appointing and removing interim judges.

In the TSJ opinion, the Court has "unacceptably meddle in the (Venezuelan) government and justice administration." For that reason, the TSJ ignored the ruling.

March 8

Human rights groups to bring the Enabling Law to the IACHR
The Enabling Law, which was approved by the previous National Assembly (AN) and granted President Hugo Chávez the power to rule by decree until mid 2012, has risks affecting the separation of powers and the right of citizens to participate in the formulation of legal instruments. As a result, human rights watchdogs will submit it to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an autonomous entity of the Organization of American States (OAS) based in Washington, granted the Human Rights Center of the Andrés Bello Catholic University and human rights activists such as Carlos Ayala Corao a hearing to talk about the negative impact that the special powers granted to the Venezuelan president will have on the Venezuelan democratic system.

In December, the IACHR has already expressed its concern about the fourth Enabling Law granted to Chávez and warned: "The protection of human rights requires that state actions affecting the enjoyment of such rights in a fundamental way not be left to the discretion of the government but, rather, that they be surrounded by a set of guarantees to ensure that the inviolable attributes of the individual are not impaired."

On that occasion, the IACHR again urged the Venezuelan authorities "to reform Article 203 of the Constitution of Venezuela, as it permits the delegation of legislative faculties to the President of the Republic without establishing clear and defined limits to the content of such delegation."

The IACHR also expressed: "Both the constitutional provision and the delegating law fail to set the limits necessary for the existence of true control over the executive branch's legislative power, while there does not exist a mechanism to allow a balanced correlation of government power as a guarantee for the respect for human rights."

In addition to the risks of the Enabling Law, the Inter-American Commission will be notified by the NGO Public Space (Espacio Público) about the risks and threats that loom over freedom of expression. The case of the Venezuelan prison crisis will also be presented by human rights watchdogs.

In 2010, there was a case of direct censorship when, following a request by the Ombudsman and the Attorney General Office, a Venezuelan Court banned the Venezuelan newspapers El Nacional and Tal Cual from publishing "violent, bloody and grotesque" photographs. A Court also commenced criminal proceedings against Guillermo Zuloaga and Nelson Mezerhane, two owners of dissenting TV network Globovisión. The investigations were not directly related to the TV channel.

Meanwhile, by the end of 2010, the National Assembly amended the Law on Social Responsibility in Radio and Television (known as Resorte Law) to punish media that spread through Internet messages that "create anxiety in the citizenry."

HRW: It is unlikely that Venezuelan judge will get a fair trial
Human Rights Watch thanked in a statement the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) for its opinion on the "arbitrary detention" of Venezuelan Judge María Lourdes Afiuni.

"The decision to prosecute Judge Afiuni for upholding Venezuelan and international law is a blow to the rule of law in Venezuela," the statement read.

HRW said that Judge Afiuni remains arbitrarily detained, and now forcibly silenced, in her house. It also said that given the context of her detention, and the dramatic erosion of judicial independence in Venezuela, "it is very difficult to expect that she will get a fair trial."

The HRW oral statement said that immediately after Judge Afiuni's arrest in December 2009 for allowing the conditional release of an individual whose detention had been considered arbitrary by the WGAD, President Hugo Chávez publicly called her a "bandit" and said "she should be sentenced to 30 years in prison."

Venezuelan imprisoned mining union leader needs to be operated
Venezuelan mining union leader William Saud had a heart catheterization and the medical team decided that the miner, who was arrested for staging a protest in mining town of Las Claritas, needs an urgent open heart surgery.

The information was supplied on March 7 by Jackeline Fernández the coordinator of the human rights organization Amnesty International in the state of Bolívar, reported the Venezuelan newspaper El Correo del Caroní.

Fernández said that in addition to coronary complications, the mining union leader William Saud suffers from skin cancer, prostatitis and has a lung infection.

March 9

Court grants open prison regime to Gen Felipe Rodríguez
General Felipe Rodríguez appeared on March 9 at the Seventh Enforcement Court, which granted him an open prison regime until December, when he will be eligible for conditional release. The judge banned him from carrying firearms, using explosives and talking about his case.

Rodríguez's defense attorney expects the Ministry of the Interior and Justice to determine the prison where he will serve his sentence and the activities he will be able to carry out.

Rodríguez is a major general of the Venezuelan National Guard. He was part of a group of disaffected officials who concentrated in the Altamira square, eastern Caracas, which became a stronghold of the most radical opposition to President Hugo Chávez in 2002. He was charged with being involved in attacks against the diplomatic missions of Colombia and Spain in 2003.

March 10

Venezuela requested to prevent the criminal way in trials against the media
An appeal to Venezuelan authorities was made in Bogotá on March 10 by Catalina Botero, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States (OAS), to prevent the criminal way in contempt-related trials against the Venezuelan media.

"We condemn the use of the crime of contempt in Venezuela. Such rule dates back to the 19th Century or so and criminally punishes whoever insults the Head of State. Such law is outrageous and violates human rights," Botero said in a meeting of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, AFP quoted.

In her opinion, this "does not mean that government officials lack honor, but it should be defended under civil law instead of using criminal law against a journalist or a media outlet."

Botero explained that in the upcoming OAS report on freedom of the press in the Western Hemisphere, her Office will denounce "stigmatization of critics of Hugo Chávez's government."

"Is not there censorship in Venezuela? There are 34 radio stations closed for reasons that nobody can understand and the government sends threatening messages against freedom of the press," Otero said in reference to multiple radio stations which went off the air in mid 2009.