Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

then there is .. Chavez Deports Representatives of Human Rights Watch from Venezuela
September 21, 2008

Late Thursday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez sent armed men to detain two researchers from Human Rights Watch and deport then from the country, following release of a 230-page report critical of the government’s human rights record.

“About 20 men, some of them in military uniform, intercepted us when we arrived at our hotel after returning from dinner Thursday night,” José Miguel Vivanco, HRW’s Americas director told the New York Times. Vivanco and Daniel Wilkinson, HRW’s deputy director for the Americas, were forced onto an overnight flight to Brazil.

The Report from Human Rights Watch, “A Decade Under Chávez,”
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/18/venezu19844.htm
was released Thursday in Caracas. It charges: “In its efforts to counter political opposition and consolidate power, the government of President Hugo Chávez has weakened democratic institutions and human rights guarantees in Venezuela.” In particular the report criticizes the Venezuelan government for its infringement of the autonomy of the judiciary and its persecution of dissent.

Those readers who feel an affinity to Chávez historic revolution to redistribute Venezuelan wealth towards the nation’s impoverished should not too quickly dismiss either Human Rights Watch, it report, or the significance of Chávez’s ousting of the two researchers.

First, Human Rights Watch is not a right-wing organization with an agenda. Readers might recall that during the most repressive days of the War on Drugs here in Bolivia, HRW was one of the few foreign organizations, alongside WOLA, that was doing investigations and putting the public spotlight on that repression. My impression of them then is the same as it is now – a group dedicated to rigorous research that lets the cards fall where they may in terms of who’s political ox gets gored.
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INSERT: .. for criticism of Human Rights Watch, from many sides,
see reply .. warning it may simply serve to confuse some .. more .. :))
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Second, regardless of what we like or don’t like in a government’s policies, free dissent is essential. My commitment to that is evidenced here on the Blog where, for many years, our comments section has remained an uncensored space, one far more critical of what I write than supportive. I value being challenged, and so should governments of any political stripe. Stifling dissent is not a progressive value, not in Bolivia or the U.S. either.

I hope that readers who have more knowledge of Venezuela than I will offer their comments and critique of the HRW report in this space. If there are inaccuracies in it, let’s hear them. In my view, documenting those inaccuracies would have also been a better road for the Venezuelan government to take than sending armed men to deport two researchers.

.. 100 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps Jim's most balanced and thoughtful post ever. And the first I'd wholeheartedly agree with.

Blogger roo said...

No, I wouldn't say Jim's post is balanced. Naive maybe.

Here's the report posted at Venezuela Analysis:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3813

[quoting the Human Rights Watch report in question],

"Specifically, the government has engaged in "discrimination on political grounds," "open disregard for the principle of separation of powers," and has "undercut journalists' freedom of expression, workers' freedom of association, and civil society's ability to promote human rights in Venezuela," according to the report, which bases its conclusions on interviews conducted over the past two years."

[This seems harsh and unbalanced in the extreme. I'm sure there are some excesses; but compared to most countries in Latin America?

[In reply,
the U.S.-based Venezuelan Information Office (VIO) says,]
"the HRW report portrays isolated incidents in Venezuela as though they were common occurrences, and "reads like the talking points of Venezuela's discredited opposition."

The VIO further pointed out that the "most fundamental" human rights to food, education, and health care have been expanded in Venezuela, and that this has been recognized by the United Nations Development Program."

[And further:]

"The Venezuelan representative in the Inter-American Human Rights Court, Germán Saltrón, said the accusations of political discrimination in the report are contradicted by the fact that the people who participated in the coup against Chávez in April 2002 were granted amnesty."

[HRW in Bolivia may act progressively; but I have seen reports of their blatant bias and meddling in other countries, such as Eastern Europe.

By the way, while on the subject of the "peace Corps," there have also been recent admissions by some volunteers that they were approached by the CIA to spy for them, no?
Did you not post those reports yourself, Jim?
You seem to be forgetting that.]

Here's another, more in-depth review of that report.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3812

I admire your commitment to non-violence and fair-play Jim; but when the other side do not play fair, (when they are, in fact, fascistic thugs) it's very difficult to move forward without stepping on some constitutional toes.

All considered, I think Chavez is doing a fine job. He can be arrogant at times, a bit of a blow-hard, (such as when he issued dire warnings about people having to support him in the last lost referendum. A mistake, obviously, which he and his people are having to deal with).

At any rate, whether or not he's for real comes down not so much to him, but whether he is empowering the people at the grassroots level to take over the leadership.

The communal-councils say it all: a revolutionary, community-based transformation from the ground up, being sponsored by the government.

Unheard of; and something which every right-wing thug or know-nothing is bitterly opposed to.

keep up the good work.

peace.

'roo.

http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/09/chavez-deports-representatives-of-human.html