Venezuela has become less democratic under the rule of Hugo Chavez according to a report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW).A weakened justice system, press harassment, and political discrimination were just a few of the problems faced in Venezuela under nearly a decade of Chavez’ rule according to HRW Americas director José Miguel Vivanco. At a press conference yesterday in Caracas, Vivanco spoke out against the “weakening of democratic institutions” under Chavez and made several recommendations to the Venezuelan government.
The Chavez administration not only replied by criticizing Vivanco but also by kicking him out of the country hours after his press conference:
Officials in Caracas said Human Rights Watch Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco had made unacceptable remarks against the country's institutions.
"We aren't going to tolerate any foreigner coming here to sully the dignity" of Venezuela's institutions, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told state television…
Vivanco "has violated the constitution" and Venezuela's laws, Maduro said.
Both human rights campaigners had been acting at the behest of the U.S. government, the foreign minister said.
Earlier this week, HRW released a statement calling for Bolivian authorities to investigate the deaths of at least fifteen people during recent disturbances. “An independent and unbiased investigation is absolutely critical to ensuring that those responsible for these killings are brought to justice,” said Vivanco over the killings in the department of Pando.
Image- AP (“Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, listens to reporters' questions during a news conference in Caracas, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008.”)
Sources (English)- Human Rights watch, CBC, miamiherald.com
Sources (Spanish)- unionradio.net
Good for them, After HRW refused to condemn the American war of aggression in Iraq although it clearly violated international law and evidently constituted an enormous instance of human right violations in itself (a war of aggression always violates human rights),they have lost a lot of credibility in my opinion. I have no doubt that HRW's report is at least partly politically motivated.
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A good debate on this occurs on the comments section of Bloggings by Boz.
ReplyDeleteWhatever your sentiments on Chavez and his policies, this action is not only (blatantly) anti-democratic and unconstitutional, but probably serves to bring more attention to the HRW report than it otherwise would have received. It seems that Chavez is acting much more viscerally these days than strategically.
Bloggings by Boz link:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8381038&postID=3498452224974734180
Hugo Chavez will one day be tied to the back of a car and dragged around Caracas by the people. He is a petty wannabe dictator. He is a silly bully. The HRW report only tells us what we already knew about this thug. He expelled the report's authors for having the audacity to freely speak out against his regime, and the crazy leftist sympathizers cheer him on. How funny and sad things have become: the left no longer cares about freedom of speech.
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