Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2007

Contact: Olivia B. Goumbri, Venezuela Information Office, (301) 613-4767

Reading Between the Lines: The U.S. State Department’s 2006 Report on Human Rights Highlights Venezuela’s Commitment to Human Rights

Washington, DC - A recent report by the U.S. Department of State provides information challenging the idea that human rights violations are widespread under the Chavez Administration in Venezuela. The Venezuela Information Office (VIO), an agency dedicated to presenting an accurate view of contemporary Venezuela, strongly rejects the report’s primary assertion that the human rights situation in Venezuela is characterized by “Politicization of the judiciary, harassment of the media, and harassment of the political opposition” and opposes this speculative language which offers little concrete evidence to back up its claims.

“Focusing on alleged human rights issues with long term structural problems and largely unfounded accusations by government opponents can not be substituted for hard evidence. As this report points out, Venezuela has not engaged in organized campaigns of torture, police repression, or killing”, said Olivia Goumbri, Executive Director of the Venezuela Information Office.

The VIO vigorously resists this trend and calls upon the U.S. Department of State to report its findings without political bias. In a statement regarding the State Department’s Human Rights Report issued in early 2005, the Deputy Director of the Washington Office on Latin America, Kimberly Stanton, noted “political considerations are evident in some of the findings… The credibility of the reports depends on consistent, objective analysis. This year the U.S. government policy priorities are affecting the evaluation of the data...” Washington has also been criticized in the past by human rights groups for inadequate reporting and data collection.

A thorough reading of the U.S. State Department’s 2006 Report on Human Rights actually reveals that Venezuela strives to guarantee human rights and in fact, is beefing up measures to provide accessible avenues for lodging complaints and holding violators accountable. The following findings, taken directly from this year’s report, are of extreme importance in assessing Venezuela’s efforts in the area of human rights; unfortunately, they are downplayed in the report’s general overview:

Political Freedoms

• “The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected this right in practice.”

• “There were no reports that the government or its agents committed any politically motivated killings;”

• “A wide variety of independent domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were somewhat responsive to their views.”

• “The government cooperated with international governmental organizations and permitted visits by OAS representatives.”

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