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Editorial Commentary
Veneconomy: Venezuela is clamoring
for justice and freedom
December 17 marked another anniversary of the death of Simón Bolívar, a man who dream of and fought for the freedom of his country.
Now, 177 years later, this free country is threatened by the dictatorial ambitions of President Hugo Chávez, who has been using a number of different means at his disposal to persecute and harass any Venezuelan who dares disagree with him or oppose his plans for a communist Venezuela.
Today thousands of Venezuelans are using their skills in other countries, drummed out of their homeland by intolerance and persecution. Examples there are many: the more 20,000 former employees of PDVSA who were denied their right to work, even after having been summarily fired and deprived of their statutory severance benefits; former Supreme Court Justice Gisela Parra, Patricia Poleo and Carlos Ortega, all of whom have been forced to flee the injustice of courts that do as they are bid by their master.
To generalize, it would appear that there are only a few legal instruments that have not been deployed to punish, harass, threaten or persecute citizens for their convictions and beliefs including, among others, the LOPNA (law to protect youth), the Penal Code reforms, the Gag Law and the Seniat (tax authority). For instance, Laureano Márquez and Tal Cual were subject to huge fines for a supposed LOPNA violation. Similarly, Seniat has been arbitrarily sutting down businesses, both large and small, for alleged failures to comply with “formal obligations.” Thesewill undoubtedly be followed by other fines levied by Cadivi once the amended Foreign Exchange Crimes Act becomes effective.
Even more outrageously, alleged tax violations and fines that not only are unjustified but so huge as to be virtually impossible to pay are now being used to hound journalists and well-known figures in the media whose editorial line is not that laid down by the government. Victims of this kind of measure include: Kiko Bautista and Carla Angola from Globovisión, as well as Miguel Ángel Rodríguez from RCTV and RCR.
Many others have to deal with trumped up legal charges and cases that are opened or dropped at the whim of obsequious judges, such as those faced by María Corina Machado, Baruta mayor Henrique Capriles Radonsky and former judge Mónica Fernández. Another example of this are the retaliatory, baseless and belated charges suddenly being brought against former governor Enrique Mendoza, and the raids on the homes of dozens of people such as the recent ones at the homes of Helen Fernández and former Finance Minister Luis Ugueto. Or the case of the student Nixon Moreno, facing charges for his alleged role inthe riots at Universidad de los Andes in May 2006, who was forced to seek asylum at the Papal Nunciature in March 2007. He, together with dozens of other leaders in Mérida and Táchira, had already been under attack and faced charges for events in April 2002, when they went to the offices of the respective governors seeking the latter’s resignations.
Even more wretched is the fate of those Venezuelans who are being held illegally in prison.
Some because already convicted under trumped up charges, such as General Francisco Usón (the first prisoner of conscience and of opinion); retired Captain Otto Gebauer, sentenced to a bit under 13 years for standing up for Chávez’s human rights in April 2002; the Guevara brothers, sentenced to 20 years each; and Lieutenant Colonel José Humberto Quintero Aguilar, who was recently tried for abuse of authority and unlawful arrest, and sentenced to three years and eight months, for having nabbed the drug-trafficker and guerrilla leader Rodrigo Granda.
In addition to these, more than 25 other people are being held in prison while being tried on trumped up charges, among them Police Chiefs Iván Simonovis, Henry Vivas, Lázaro Forero, together with eight Policia Metropolitana policemen; Raúl Díaz Peña, Silvio Mérida, General Felipe Rodríguez, Iván Rouvier, Miguel Prieto Morales, Diana Mora Herrera, José Sánchez (Mazuko), retired General Ramón Guillén and his son, CaptainTomás Guillén. Two recent newcomers have now been added to the ranks of these and other political prisoners: former Captain Carlos Guyón and retired Colonel Francisco Alvarado.
To top it off, there are those who remain in jail awaiting trial and who are at risk of horrible deaths because of the deteriorated conditions of the prison system.
VenEconomy wishes all of them, their parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters, and all the people of Venezuela a 2008 in which justice and freedom shine forth once again.
VenEconomy is a Venezuela's leading specialized publisher in the economic and financial area. VenEconomy's Points of View on the issues of the day, as seen by VenEconomy during the last week. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.
Editor's note: This commentary was originally published by VenEconomy, on 12/18/2007. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.
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Petroleumworld News 12/24/07
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