Venezuela 26Th Session of the UPR Working Group Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Balanced Election Coverage with Media Researchers on Location
10.1515/nor-2017-0206 Current Research Projects More Balanced Election Coverage with Media Researchers on Location TOMAS ANDERSSON ODÉN On 15 August 2004, the Bolivarian Republic of monitoring project. A group of Venezuelan students Venezuela held a referendum to decide if the current who had been trained and had participated in the president, Hugo Chávez, should remain in office un- 2004 monitoring were recruited as coders.4 til the end of his six-year term or be recalled. Be- The purpose of the 2006 monitoring project was cause of strong social tension, including friction to analyse the balance in the coverage of the presi- between Chavez and some of the private media dential election campaign, and to evaluate the meth- companies, the Atlanta-based democracy organisa- odology of the 2004 project. tion The Carter Center sent a mission to Venezuela The main question was whether there were rea- to observe the referendum. The Carter Project in- sons to assume that the increased balance in media cluded a Scandinavian media monitoring project to reporting in 2004 was due to the media monitoring assess whether election coverage in the major TV project and the weekly presentation of its results. channels’ newscasts was balanced or biased.1 The result of the media monitoring was reported each week to the media companies and to the Ven- Tension after Coup ezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE). The first Tension between the Venezuelan president and report, released on 22nd of July 2004 demonstrated some of the privately-owned TV channels was that only one of the newscasts had a relatively bal- partly due to the media’s alleged role in a coup anced election reporting while the others had a con- d’état that briefly deposed of Hugo Chávez in April siderable bias.2 One of those was state-owned chan- of 2002. -
Urgent Action
UA: 123/15 Index: AMR 53/1772/2015 Venezuela Date: 4 June 2015 URGENT ACTION DEFENDERS AT RISK FOLLOWING BREACH OF PRIVACY The private communications of two human rights defenders may be being monitored by the Venezuelan authorities. This appears to be an attempt to restrict their ability to freely carry out their legitimate human rights work. The two men, their colleagues and the people they represent might be at risk. On 13 May the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, publicly shared details on the travel arrangements of two human rights defenders, Rafael Uzcátegui from the Venezuelan Program for Education and Action on Human Rights (Provea) and Carlos Correa from Public Space (Espacio Público). The information was shared in Diosdado Cabello’s weekly television program “Con el Mazo Dando”, where the work of human rights defenders is regularly questioned and details of their whereabouts are shared. The ongoing attacks and smear campaigns by the President of the National Assembly along and with other high ranking authorities contributes to the stigmatization of the defenders’ work and puts them at risk as it could incite government sympathizers, including pro-government armed groups, to intimidate them, including by carrying out physical attacks on them and their families. Among other details, Diosdado Cabello announced that Rafael Uzcátegui and Carlos Correa were traveling to Chile to meet the former coordinator of Provea. According to Rafael Uzcátegui and Carlos Correa this information was only shared in their private online communications, which they now fear are being monitored by the authorities. Their communications with victims of human rights violations might have also been intercepted and could compromise their right to truth, justice and reparation. -
"Arremetida Contra Opositores" Brutalidad, Tortura Y
Arremetida contra opositores Brutalidad, tortura y persecución política en Venezuela Copyright © 2017 Human Rights Watch Todos los derechos reservados. Impreso en Estados Unidos de América ISBN: 978-1-6231-35492 Diseño de tapa: Rafael Jiménez Human Rights Watch defiende los derechos de personas en todo el mundo. Investigamos exhaustivamente casos de abuso, exponemos ampliamente los hechos y exigimos a quienes están en el poder que respeten los derechos y garanticen medidas de justicia. Human Rights Watch es una organización internacional independiente cuya labor se inscribe en un movimiento dinámico por la dignidad humana y la defensa de los derechos humanos para todos. Human Rights Watch es una organización internacional con representantes en más de 40 países, y oficinas en Ámsterdam, Beirut, Berlín, Bruselas, Chicago, Ginebra, Goma, Johannesburgo, Londres, Los Ángeles, Moscú, Nairobi, Nueva York, París, San Francisco, Sídney, Tokio, Toronto, Túnez, Washington, DC y Zúrich. Para obtener más información, visite: www.hrw.org/es El Foro Penal (FP) es una ONG venezolana que ha trabajado en la defensa de los derechos humanos desde el año 2002, ofreciendo asistencia gratuita a las víctimas de represión del estado, incluyendo aquellas personas detenidas arbitrariamente, torturadas y asesinadas. El Foro Penal posee una red de voluntarios conformada por 200 abogados y más de 4.000 activistas, con representación en cada uno de los estados del país y coordinadores en Argentina, Chile, Noruega, España, Suecia, Uruguay y los Estados Unidos de América. Los voluntarios proveen asistencia legal pro-bono a las víctimas, organizando campañas para la liberación de los presos políticos, poner un freno a la represión del estado y aumentar el costo político y social del gobierno venezolano en el uso de la represión como mecanismo para permanecer en el poder. -
Venezuela: Issues for Congress, 2013-2016
Venezuela: Issues for Congress, 2013-2016 Mark P. Sullivan Specialist in Latin American Affairs January 23, 2017 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R43239 Venezuela: Issues for Congress, 2013-2016 Summary Although historically the United States had close relations with Venezuela, a major oil supplier, friction in bilateral relations increased under the leftist, populist government of President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), who died in 2013 after battling cancer. After Chávez’s death, Venezuela held presidential elections in which acting President Nicolás Maduro narrowly defeated Henrique Capriles of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), with the opposition alleging significant irregularities. In 2014, the Maduro government violently suppressed protests and imprisoned a major opposition figure, Leopoldo López, along with others. In December 2015, the MUD initially won a two-thirds supermajority in National Assembly elections, a major defeat for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). The Maduro government subsequently thwarted the legislature’s power by preventing three MUD representatives from taking office (denying the opposition a supermajority) and using the Supreme Court to block bills approved by the legislature. For much of 2016, opposition efforts were focused on recalling President Maduro through a national referendum, but the government slowed down the referendum process and suspended it indefinitely in October. After an appeal by Pope Francis, the government and most of the opposition (with the exception of Leopoldo López’s Popular Will party) agreed to talks mediated by the Vatican along with the former presidents of the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Panama and the head of the Union of South American Nations. -
Ibéyise Pacheco Periodista Y Escritora Venezolana Comité De Asuntos
Ibéyise Pacheco Periodista y escritora venezolana Comité de Asuntos Exteriores Noviembre 6, 2015 “Las deplorables violaciones de los Derechos Humanos en Cuba y Venezuela” Traducido por Olga Santiago Kluivert Roa begged the police: “please, don’t kill me, don’t kill me.” The officer shot him in the head at a very short distance with a 12 –gauge shotgun which had plastic pellets and which caused a deadly injury to the brain. Kluivert was 14 years old. According to the witnesses, Kluivert was coming back from his classes and came across a youth demonstration, which was taking place in San Cristóbal, a city in the Southwest of Venezuela. As a good Samaritan, Kluivert stopped to help another student who was injured while was taken by surprise by the Bolivarian National Police forces that forced him to get on his knees and place his hands on his head. It happened on February 24th of 2015. This case, like many others, was known only by a few Venezuelan people. The fierce control that Nicolas Maduro’s regime has over the media, silences the truth and distorts the facts for his benefit. Today, I come before this highly respected audience, and I, with all the power and responsibility, would like to make two statements which I do not have a slightest doubt about. 1. Human rights have been violated in Venezuela. 2. As a consequence, there is no freedom of speech in Venezuela. I can add another statement to those two: this has been happening for at least 14 years and is getting worse every day. -
Law on Social Responsibility in Radio, Television, and Electronic
Venezuela Page 1 of 5 Published on Freedom House (https://freedomhouse.org) Home > Venezuela Venezuela Country: Venezuela Year: 2016 Press Freedom Status: NF PFS Score: 80 Legal Environment: 26 Political Environment: 30 Economic Environment: 24 Overview Inhospitable conditions for press freedom continued to prevail in 2015 as the country prepared for legislative elections in December. Government officials used state media to threaten private outlets, and lawmakers with the ruling party opened defamation cases against critical journalists. Restricted access to foreign currency, crucial for purchasing newsprint, contributed to reductions in the size or frequency of some periodicals. However, compared with 2014, which featured major clashes between security forces and antigovernment demonstrators, the number of physical attacks and arbitrary detentions affecting journalists declined. Key Developments • The government refused to recognize a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordering the reinstatement of the terrestrial broadcast license of television station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which was taken off the air in 2007 after a highly politicized campaign against the channel by then president Hugo Chávez. https://freedomhouse.org/print/48463 1/16/2018 Venezuela Page 2 of 5 • Foreign journalists faced restrictions while attempting to cover the legislative elections, and over two dozen alleged violations of press freedom were reported on election day. Legal Environment: 26 / 30 Article 57 of Venezuela’s 1999 constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but this right is not respected in practice. Reforms to the penal code in 2005 expanded the scope of defamation as a criminal offense; when directed at the president, it can result in a prison term of up to 30 months. -
Television in Venezuela: Who Dominates the Media? by MARK WEISBROT and TARA RUTTENBERG *
Issue Brief December 2010 Television in Venezuela: Who Dominates the Media? BY MARK WEISBROT AND TARA RUTTENBERG * It is commonly reported in the international press, and widely believed, that the government of President Hugo Chávez controls the media in Venezuela. For example, writing about Venezuela’s September elections for the National Assembly, the Washington Post’s deputy editorial page editor and columnist, Jackson Diehl, referred to the Chávez “regime’s domination of the media...” 1 In an interview on CNN, Lucy Morillon of Reporters Without Borders stated, “President Chávez controls most of the TV stations.” 2 And on PBS in November 2010, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega stated that the Venezuelan media is “virtually under the control of Chávez.” 3 Such statements are made regularly in the major media and almost never challenged. Table 1 shows the evolution of Venezuelan television audience share from 2000-2010. There are three categories: private broadcast channels, which are privately owned and available on broadcast television without payment; the state channels, which are run by the government and also broadcast, without payment 4 by the viewer; and private paid TV, which includes cable and satellite, for which the subscriber must pay a fee; and other paid programming that is being watched during the time of the survey. As can be seen from the table, as of September 2010, Venezuelan state TV channels had just a 5.4 percent audience share. Of the other 94.6 percent of the audience, 61.4 percent were watching privately owned television channels, and 33.1 percent were watching paid TV. -
Descargue El Informe Completo
Arremetida contra opositores Brutalidad, tortura y persecución política en Venezuela Copyright © 2017 Human Rights Watch Todos los derechos reservados. Impreso en Estados Unidos de América ISBN: 978-1-6231-35492 Diseño de tapa: Rafael Jiménez Human Rights Watch defiende los derechos de personas en todo el mundo. Investigamos exhaustivamente casos de abuso, exponemos ampliamente los hechos y exigimos a quienes están en el poder que respeten los derechos y garanticen medidas de justicia. Human Rights Watch es una organización internacional independiente cuya labor se inscribe en un movimiento dinámico por la dignidad humana y la defensa de los derechos humanos para todos. Human Rights Watch es una organización internacional con representantes en más de 40 países, y oficinas en Ámsterdam, Beirut, Berlín, Bruselas, Chicago, Ginebra, Goma, Johannesburgo, Londres, Los Ángeles, Moscú, Nairobi, Nueva York, París, San Francisco, Sídney, Tokio, Toronto, Túnez, Washington, DC y Zúrich. Para obtener más información, visite: www.hrw.org/es El Foro Penal (FP) es una ONG venezolana que ha trabajado en la defensa de los derechos humanos desde el año 2002, ofreciendo asistencia gratuita a las víctimas de represión del estado, incluyendo aquellas personas detenidas arbitrariamente, torturadas y asesinadas. El Foro Penal posee una red de voluntarios conformada por 200 abogados y más de 4.000 activistas, con representación en cada uno de los estados del país y coordinadores en Argentina, Chile, Noruega, España, Suecia, Uruguay y los Estados Unidos de América. Los voluntarios proveen asistencia legal pro-bono a las víctimas, organizando campañas para la liberación de los presos políticos, poner un freno a la represión del estado y aumentar el costo político y social del gobierno venezolano en el uso de la represión como mecanismo para permanecer en el poder. -
Televisión Del Estado, Comercial Y Comunitaria En Venezuela: La Lucha Por El
Televisión del Estado, comercial y comunitaria en Venezuela: la lucha por el poder y consumo mediático José Miguel Gámez Pérez – Doctorando Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona. Resumen El artículo se centra en el pluralismo y la concentración mediática en Venezuela, donde los debates sobre la comunicación presumen la falta de democracia. Se intenta entender la estructura y el funcionamiento de los medios, en específico de la televisión y sus patrones de consumo mediático, profundizando en cómo se clasifica y qué rol tiene en una sociedad orientada políticamente hacia el Socialismo del siglo XXI o en contra del postcapitalismo-neoliberal, la cual de seguro es de difícil comprensión en otros sistemas políticos. El texto realiza un análisis metodológico cualitativo de carácter documental y transdisciplinario, enfocado en las dimensiones económica, política, legal y tecnológica, de los modelos de concentración a menores escalas y sus implicaciones económicas y políticas. También describe desde una perspectiva técnica, la clasificación de la televisión en Venezuela: pública y comercial (privada), de las cuales la pública a su vez se divide en TV del Estado y Comunitaria; no obstante todas, incluyendo la TV comercial de estricto carácter capitalista, están sujetas a una nueva regulación nacional que garantiza el cumplimiento de la misión social. Vale destacar que los medios públicos se asocian con el Gobierno por recibir en muchos casos las concesiones y subsidios, lo cual porcentualmente aparecería como una tendencia al monopolio del Estado, -
Download [Pdf]
Working PaperEuropean No. 65 Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building Hertie School of Governance Working Paper No. 65 Backsliding on Good Governance: the Venezuelan case Ana C. Pérez ERCAS WORKING PAPERS COLLECTION WORKING PAPERS ERCAS Berlin, December 2020 www.againstcorruption.eu 1 Working Paper No. 65 Working Paper No. 65 Introduction During the last 10 years, Venezuela has experienced a stark regression on its road to good governance, performing negatively in most indicators. Such backsliding can be attributed to the poor governance the country has undergone during its current administration, as well as due to falling oil prices worldwide which has severely damaged the country’s single‐commodity-centered economy. A number of corrupt and anti‐democratic processes have also led to this negative transition, that instead of pushing forward the once regional leader, has only pushed it backward. Across this essay, we aim to analyze, through a historical summary of the past 20 years using a process-tracing methodology, the main events in Venezuela that have led to the deterioration of the country’s good governance indicators. Hugo Chávez Frías (2001 - 2013) First Term (2001 – 2007) In 1999 during the first months of Hugo Chávez’s presidency, he proposed a constituent assembly to change the Constitution. Through this, the nation’s Congress, previously consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, was dissolved. Once passed, these powers were merged into a newly created National Assembly. It is worth noting that the make- up of the constituent assembly working towards the writing of the new constitution was not proportional to the popular vote, giving them an over-representation to the officialism which gained 95% of the seats with just 60% of the votes, while the opposition achieved only 4 seats even after having 38% of the votes (Monsalve, 2011; Lucca, 2013). -
Venezuela After Chavez
Edited by Veronica Zubillaga George Ciccariello-Maher Rebecca Hanson Boris Muñoz Robert Samet Naomi Schiller David Smilde Alejandro Velasco Veronica Zubillaga April 30th, 2014 1 Introduction Venezuela after Chávez: Challenges of Democracy, Security and Governance April 30, 2014 Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Watson Institute for International Studies Brown University The death of President Hugo Chávez on March 2013 has raised pressing questions about the future of Venezuela and the continuity of Chávez’s Bolivarian project. Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s hand-picked successor, won elections in April 2013 with a very narrow electoral victory that aroused serious suspicion of fraud amidst the opposition and intense tensions among Venezuelans. Nine months later, in February 2014, Venezuelans experienced a burst of massive students protests in different states, which immediately spread to middle-classes neighborhoods of the emboldened opposition. While we were organizing the Venezuela conference at Brown, in Caracas some middle-class neighborhoods were taken and blocked by “vecinos” (neighbors); students kept taking to the streets protesting while excessively repressive and militarized police responses reheated the students’ rage. The protest’s focused on a vast range of claims: from freedom of speech, citizen security, food shortages; inflation; freedom for those imprisoned for political motives since the beginning of the protests; government repression, up to Maduro’s immediate resignation. The landscape resembled a war zone in one part of the city yet was amazingly calm in other parts. Social polarization was evident and finding out the reasons why people in barrios were not protesting is one of the questions posed here. -
Venezuela -- Chavez Moves to Silence Opposition Media
UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO 3 August 2009 Open!Source!Center Analysis Venezuela -- Chavez Moves to Silence Opposition Media President Chavez's government is moving forcefully to silence critics by introducing a Media Crimes bill that would give it sweeping authority to jail journalists, media executives, and bloggers who report on anything that the government considers to be harmful to state interests. It is simultaneously moving to shut down more than 200 radio stations, impose broadcasting requirements on RCTV International, and position itself to take over opposition news station Globovision. Tightening control over opposition outlets could make it more difficult for Chavez to blame his favored scapegoat of the media for the country's problems, however. Introduced at the National Assembly by Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega, the Media Crimes bill significantly expands the government's ability to punish media critics for any action or omission that it finds objectionable. ! The bill makes it illegal to report on anything deemed "harmful to public mental or moral health" or to "the interests of the state," or anything that would "incite violence" or "create panic." It also penalizes outlets for not reporting on events or situations that would violate "the people's right to information." The bill targets journalists, media executives, and even bloggers. ! Unlike the Radio and Television Social Responsibility Law, under which stations can be fined or lose their broadcast license, the new bill sets prison sentences of six months to four years for violations, and also applies to print media. Outlets with convicted workers or owners cannot comment on the conviction in any fashion beyond posting a notice (Noticias24.com, 30 July).1 ! The bill is almost certainly targeted at the government's long-standing media critics.