Concentration and Abuse of Power in Chávez's Venezuela
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HUMAN RIGHTS Tightening the Grip Concentration and Abuse of Power in Chávez’s Venezuela WATCH Tightening the Grip Concentration and Abuse of Power in Chávez's Venezuela Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-916-X Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice. We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable. We challenge governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org July 2012 ISBN: 1-56432-916-X Tightening the Grip Concentration and Abuse of Power in Chávez's Venezuela Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 The Courts .................................................................................................................. 4 The Media .................................................................................................................. 6 Human Rights Defenders ............................................................................................ 7 Note on Methodology ................................................................................................. 8 The Courts ........................................................................................................................ 10 Re-Packing the Supreme Court .................................................................................. 10 The Record of the Supreme Court Since 2004 ............................................................ 13 Rejecting the Principle of Separation of Powers ................................................... 14 Rejecting Binding Rulings by the Inter-American Court ......................................... 16 Ruling against the Independence of NGOs ........................................................... 18 Ruling against Government Transparency ............................................................ 20 Upholding Prior Censorship ................................................................................ 21 Upholding Presidential Power to Establish Crimes by Decree ............................... 23 Upholding the Government's Power to Impose Mandatory Broadcasts ................. 25 Ruling against the Right to Run For Office ............................................................ 26 Ruling against the Independence of Lower Court Judges ...................................... 29 Judge María Lourdes Afiuni ....................................................................................... 30 Impact on Judicial Independence .............................................................................. 42 The Inter-American Human Rights System ................................................................. 43 The Media ........................................................................................................................ 49 Expanded Powers to Censor and Punish Critics ......................................................... 49 RCTV ........................................................................................................................ 51 Globovisión .............................................................................................................. 55 Globovisión President Guillermo Zuloaga .................................................................. 62 Globovisión Owner Nelson Mezerhane ...................................................................... 65 Globovisión Commentator Oswaldo Álvarez Paz ........................................................ 68 Tu Imagen TV ............................................................................................................ 71 Censoring Satire ....................................................................................................... 72 Censoring News Coverage ......................................................................................... 75 Censoring Violent Images ......................................................................................... 77 Censoring a Soap Opera ........................................................................................... 79 Remaking the Media Landscape ............................................................................... 80 Impact on Free Speech ............................................................................................. 86 Human Rights Defenders .................................................................................................. 89 Criminal Complaints against Human Rights Defenders .............................................. 89 Expanded Powers to Punish Human Rights Defenders ............................................... 91 Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons ........................................................................... 93 Citizen Watch ........................................................................................................... 97 Public Space ............................................................................................................ 99 COFAVIC ................................................................................................................. 102 PROVEA .................................................................................................................. 104 Human Rights Defenders Outside of Caracas ........................................................... 105 Limiting Public Access to Information....................................................................... 110 Impact on Human Rights Advocacy .......................................................................... 113 Venezuela’s Obligations Under International Law ............................................................ 117 Judicial Independence ............................................................................................. 117 Freedom of Expression ............................................................................................ 119 Prior Censorship ................................................................................................ 119 Regulating Media Content ................................................................................. 120 Controlling the Airwaves .................................................................................... 121 Access to Information ....................................................................................... 122 Community Media ............................................................................................ 124 Protection of Human Rights Defenders .................................................................... 124 Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 128 Regarding Judicial Independence ............................................................................ 128 Regarding Freedom of Expression ........................................................................... 129 Regarding Human Rights Defenders ......................................................................... 131 Regarding the Inter-American Human Rights System ............................................... 132 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 133 Summary In 2008, Human Rights Watch released A Decade Under Chávez, a 230-page report documenting how the government of President Hugo Chávez had squandered an historic opportunity to shore up the country’s democratic institutions and strengthen the protection of human rights in Venezuela. After enacting a new constitution with ample human rights guarantees in 1999—and surviving a short-lived coup d’état in 2002— President Chávez and his supporters moved to concentrate power by seizing control of the Supreme Court and undercutting the ability of journalists, human rights defenders, and other Venezuelans to exercise fundamental rights. The 2008 report, which Human Rights Watch released at a press conference in Caracas, offered detailed recommendations of steps the Venezuelan government could take to salvage the human rights potential of the 1999 Constitution. President Chávez responded by having Human Rights Watch’s representatives forcibly detained and summarily expelled from the country. Since then, the human rights situation in Venezuela has become even more precarious. The pro-Chávez majority in the National Assembly has passed legislation expanding the government’s powers to limit free speech and punish its critics. And the Supreme Court— re-packed with Chávez supporters in 2010—has explicitly rejected the principle that the judiciary should serve