March 8

NGO reports 16,047 murders in Venezuela
The Venezuelan government does not provide overall figures about violence, but according to unofficial data, at the end of 2009, a total of 16.047 people were killed in compared to 14,800 in 2008 and 4,500 people in 1998.

In Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, there were 140 murders per 100,000 people in 2009, compared to 18 murders per 100,000 people in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia.

"Chávez has the idea that his revolution must break down structures. He keeps thinking that violence is also a class struggle, a conflict of poor against rich people. But in Venezuela, poor people are killing poor people," Roberto Briceño-León, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), told AFP.

The OVV provides figures on insecurity.

"Right now, people in Venezuela have no reason not to steal or rob and the government thinks that by hiding figures it can create an illusory sense of security," Briceño León added.

March 9

Broadcasting association rejects measures against RCTVI
The International Association of Broadcasting (IAB) considered "illegal and arbitrary" a decision adopted by the Venezuelan government that denied the request to launch private TV station Radio Caracas Internacional (RCTV) as a national audiovisual production service.

The IAB, which includes more than 17,000 private radio and TV stations in the Americas, Asia and Europe, filed a complaint in a statement released in Montevideo. The association is based in the Uruguayan capital.

AIB says that the explanations of Hugo Chávez's government to deny the authorization to RCTV are illegal and arbitrary. The AIB maintains that the Venezuelan TV station "provided in a timely manner all the documents that support its international programming," AP reported.

The AIB complained that the "description of facts and its dire consequences is carried out unilaterally by a government agency, without the intervention of any independent court. In fact, it will result in the full and final withdrawal of RCTV from Venezuelan cable operators, thus depriving Venezuela's people of an independent TV channel, severely affecting their right to information and freedom of expression."

The broadcaster association said that with these measures, the Venezuelan government is "violating international treaties and constitutional rights." The IAB called the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to take the necessary steps to prevent "that the Venezuelan government violates with impunity fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and due process."

March 10

Venezuelan NGO to request foreign mediation for freedom of expression
The Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Venezuela will pursue in the next few days an agenda that has been called "Emergency Action," through which the NGO intends to contact foreign diplomats who would ask their governments to mediate with their Venezuelan counterpart and facilitate the exercise of the freedom of expression.

During an event to support private TV station RCTV and its workers, a group of journalists and workers gathered outside the headquarters of RCTV. The Secretary General of the Venezuelan Press Workers' Union (SNTP), Marco Ruiz, provided some details about the announcement: "We are going to contact, through different embassies, foreign actors who have both interests in Venezuela and good relations with the Venezuelan government to request them to get in touch with their governments and ask them to contact the Venezuelan authorities to discuss possible solutions."

He added that there are major international players who can mediate to improve the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela.

The Alliance for Freedom of Expression will also resort to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), based in Washington.

"We would like to announce that later this month we will visit for the third time the IACHR to accuse the Venezuelan government," said William Echeverría, the president of the Venezuelan Journalists' Association (CNP).

March 11

IACHR regrets deaths in prison and urges Venezuela to stop violence in jails
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) deplored the violent deaths of several prisoners in the Capital Region Penitentiary of Yare I and urged the Venezuelan government to take the necessary steps to prevent the recurrence of such events.

In a statement, the IACHR voiced concern about these events and expressed solidarity with the families of dead inmates.

The human rights commission recalled that governments have a duty to make the necessary decisions to guarantee the lives and safety of inmates.

The IACHR reiterated its concern about the high rates of violence in Venezuelan prisons and about the possession of firearms inside jails. The Commission stressed that States have the clear duty to protect inmates.

The statement said that the IACHR has been monitoring violence in Venezuelan prisons for several years. Therefore, it urged Venezuelan authorities to take steps to prevent outbreaks of violence.

US slams human rights abuses in Venezuela and Cuba
The 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the US Department of State highlights violations of human rights in Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia. The three Latin American countries are criticized by the "restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association," throughout 2009, DPA reported.

In the case of Venezuela, the report focuses primarily on government attacks on private media.

"Government officials, including the president (Hugo Chávez), used government-controlled media outlets to accuse private media owners, directors, and reporters of fomenting anti-government destabilization campaigns and coup attempts," said the report. The paper also highlights the "active harassment" to privately owned and opposition-oriented television stations, media outlets, and journalists using "administrative sanctions, fines, and threats of closure."

In this sense, the report recalls "government's harassment" of private TV news network Globovisión. It also states that by the end of 2009, 32 radio stations and two television stations were been shut, and the government announced "its intention to close" another unspecified 29 radio stations.

The US Department of State also echoes the recent report issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that warned of a "troubling trend of punishments, intimidation, and attacks on individuals in reprisal for expressing their dissent with official policy."

According to the US Department of State report, Cuban authorities "interfered with privacy" of citizens and engaged in "pervasive monitoring of private communications." At the same time, the Caribbean island once again banned non-official press, and refused to recognize domestic human rights groups or independent journalists.

The report was severe with Venezuela and Cuba, but showed a softer stance on Colombia. However, unlike the previous human rights report, the 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices made critical remarks about the situation facing freedom of expression, especially due to the country's guerrillas.

Venezuela rejects politicization of US report on human rights
The Venezuelan government termed on March 11 "selective and political" the annual paper on human rights in the world, delivered by the US Department of State, which reports on corruption and repression in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States Bernardo Álvarez said in a communiqué that the report has been "written in a selective, political manner," Efe quoted.

The Embassy of Venezuela "denounces the political nature of this document and emphasizes that the emerging participatory democracy system, as well as the determined campaign against poverty, inequity and social exclusion launched more than a decade ago, have enhanced political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Venezuelan people."

In the diplomat's view, "thanks to dramatic reduction of poverty and to a government system that is resolutely expanding ways of involvement, Venezuela has gone from an electoral democracy to a citizen's democracy."

The report authored by the US Department of State and submitted on March 11 to the US Congress, lists a number of human rights abuses which, in its view and according to human rights advocates, are committed in Venezuela.

March 12

UN Rapporteur expresses concern over the case of Venezuelan judge
"Reprisals against judges should not be tolerated," the UN Chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said.

Hadji Malick Sow, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention introduced at the Human Rights Council (an inter-governmental body within the UN system) the case of Venezuelan judge María Lourdes Afiuni, who headed the 31st Control Court of Caracas and was suspended by Judiciary authorities.

"The Working Group is extremely concerned about the information received, according to which the judge who took the decision has been arrested on charges of corruption, of being an accessory to escape, and abuse of power," he said.

Afiuni was arrested last December, when she ordered the conditional release of banker Eligio Cedeño, who had been held in prison for almost three years without trial. Afiuni based her decision on a finding by the United Nations' working group on arbitrary detention.

The Rapporteur closed his presentation by saying: "Reprisals against judges for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed functions and implementing recommendations of a United Nations human rights mechanism should not be tolerated under any circumstances by this Council."

Three human rights advocates detained during protest
On March 12, three human rights advocates were detained when joining a trade union march in Maracay, the capital city of central Aragua state.

Marino Alvarado, coordinator of NGO Venezuelan Program of Action and Education in Human Rights (Provea), reported on the detention of Rafael Uzcátegui, the organization media coordinator; Marcos Ponce, a researcher, and Robert Calzadilla, a journalist. Forty people were also under arrest.

The rally, organized by 30 trade unions, was to be held downtown Maracay for the right to protest and collective bargaining agreement. They also were requesting the freedom of trade union leader Rubén González.

However, the local police repressed the demonstration and captured the three Provea members.