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Venezuelan archbishop criticizes Chavez on rights
MANAGUA
Petroleumworld.com, May 14, 2009A Venezuelan archbishop has accused President Hugo Chavez of violating press freedoms, human rights and polarizing the country in his ten years in power, in an interview published here Wednesday.
Baltazar Porras Cardozo, the archbishop of the city of Merida, said it would be very difficult for the Roman Catholic church to reach an understanding with Chavez government because "they only dialogue with themselves."
In stinging remarks to the newspaper La Prensa, Porras said anyone with "an opinion or a vision that is somewhat different is made an object of mockery, ridicule and, on occasion, also other kinds of measures of all kinds, legal or economic."
Porras was in Managua to take part in a meeting of Latin American bishops.
He said there are between 100 and 150 homicides a week in Venezuela, but many go unsolved because the government only investigates those in which it has a political interest.
He added that Chavez has divided Venezuela society between "friends and enemies" of his administration, and that the church has been labeled an adversary because of its defense of human rights.
"The critical attitude of the church often bothers (the president)," he said.
The archbishop also criticized Chavez' efforts to legalize actions that do not take into account the collective well-being of the society.
"To act legally is to act ethically, and that's not the way it is. We know that to be ethical laws have to reflect a consensus of the population," he said.
Story from AFP
AFP 05/13/2009 22:28
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