The OAS’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a 300 page report on Venezuela Wednesday, saying, in the Washington Post’s words, the country “constrains free expression, the rights of its citizens to protest and the ability of opposition politicians to function.” The report entitled “Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela” focuses on political rights while making note of cultural, social, and economic rights in the country as well. To this point, the IACHR says it “recognizes the State's achievements with regard to the progressive observance of these rights, including, most notably, the eradication of illiteracy, the reduction of poverty, and the increase in access by the most vulnerable sectors to basic services such as health care.” But, the IACHR press release goes on:
“The Commission emphasizes that observance of other fundamental rights cannot be sacrificed for the sake of realizing economic, social, and cultural rights in Venezuela. Human rights constitute an indissoluble whole, and, as the American Convention sets forth in its preamble, ‘the ideal of free men enjoying freedom from fear and want can be achieved only if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights.’”
Notably, the IACHR says it has not actually visited Venezuela to conduct an on-the-ground assessment of the human rights situation since May 2002 because the Venezuelan government has refused to grant the IACHR permission to carry out such a mission. On that point, the IACHR writes, “the fact that the State to date has refused to allow the IACHR to visit not only undermines the powers assigned to the Commission as the principal body of the OAS for the promotion and protection of human rights, but also seriously weakens the collective protection system created by the Organization’s Member States.” With reactions to the report, the Inter-American Dialogue’s Michael Shifter tells the Post that “This is a professional report, and the commission has been progressively more critical about Chávez over the years.” Brazilian commission member, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, says the fact that “threats to human rights and democracy are many and very serious” led to the report’s publication. And while Hugo Chavez himself has not yet reacted, his ambassador to the OAS, Roy Chadderton tells the Post that he believes the OAS has become a “confrontational political actor instead of an advocate for defending human rights.”
With other notes on Venezuela this morning, Reuters puts together a fact box of one-time political allies of Hugo Chavez who have split from the president in recent years. The AP reports that the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled the 2008 election of an anti-Chavez mayor in the municipality of Sucre in the state of Zulia. The justification: the mayor’s evasion of $292 in local taxes. The court has appointed Humberto Franka Salas, a member of Chavez's ruling party, as interim mayor. In an opinion in the Miami Herald, Marifeli Perez-Stable analyzes the confrontation between Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe at Tuesday’s Latin American and Caribbean Unity Summit lunch. She argues Chavez is very close to “liquidating democracy” focusing on the president’s “clamp down” on the private sector, recentralization of power, changes to the electoral system, among other issues.
To other stories today:
· Brazilian President Lula da Silva was in Havana, Cuba following the Rio Summit in Mexico. BBC Mundo reports that the purpose of the trip was to consolidate a number of economic accords between the two countries (including those related to investigations into oil deposits off the Cuban coastline). But, the BBC writes, the Brazilian head of state did little in terms of public appearances while on the island instead keeping a relatively low profile. The AP picks up the story from there this morning, saying Lula was received by Fidel for about an hour yesterday. The two apparently discussed “various subjects,” among them the UN climate change conference recently held in Copenhagen. Lula’s visit comes after the death of a Cuban dissident/political prisoner who had been on a hunger strike for over two months. The death led the US to reiterate its demand that all of Cuba’s more than 200 political prisoners be liberated. The event also leads to a series of opinions in the Miami Herald this morning, including an editorial which says the UN, the OAS, and EU should increasingly be speaking out against human rights violations on the island. Journalist Miriam Leiva, meanwhile, presents the case of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and the circumstances of his imprisonment in 2003.
· On Colombia, three important stories this morning. From Time, a look at how crime is once again on the rise in Medellín after a number of years of reduced homicide rates. The magazine writes, “last year was not a good one for Medellín. Murders doubled in 2009, to 2,899, according to the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science. It was the largest number of homicides since 2002, when there were some 5,000 murders (there were an estimated 6,500 in 1991). The situation is directly attributable to a drug war that has once again engulfed the hillsides ringing the city.” This led the government to dispatch some 900 additional police officers to the city while some 1300 more are expected to arrive shortly. President Alvaro Uribe has also controversially proposed to pay students to act as informants against criminals working in the area. CNN meanwhile looks at the questionable closure of Colombia’s Cambio. And reports indicate that former Colombian senator and close ally of President Alvaro Uribe (also Uribe’s second cousin) was arrested Wednesday for colluding with far-right paramilitary death squads. Also look for a decision on re-election from the constitutional court in Colombia sometime this week.
· BBC Mundo also reports today on how women have increasingly become victims in the drug wars of Mexico and Central America, especially in those areas where the Zetas have increased their presence. At Global Post, a piece by journalist Ioan Grillo who writes on the UN International Narcotics Control Board’s harsh criticism of drug decriminalization moves in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. The INCB in particular criticizes the efforts of various former Latin American leaders who’ve called for decriminalization in the last year. “Regrettably, influential personalities, including former high-level politicians in countries in South America, have publicly expressed support for that movement. The Board is concerned that the movement, if not resolutely countered by the respective Governments, will undermine national and international efforts to combat the abuse of and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs.” One of those leaders, former Colombia President Cesar Gaviria dismissed the INCB’s complaint. “The United Nations meets every 10 years to say that in the next 10 years the world will be free of the consumption of drugs but it never happens. And the violence problems are putting Mexico and Colombia in real danger.” For more on the US war on drugs and Latin America, NACLA has a piece out from Professor Susanna Reiss, published in its most recent issue of the Report on the Americas.
· In Honduras, the AP writes that corruption charges have been filed against former president Mel Zelaya. The charges stem from an investigation by the country’s anti-corruption prosecutor which claims Zelaya channeled “$1.5 million in government welfare funds to his campaign for a referendum on reforming the constitution.”
· Finally, with opinions and analysis. At the Latin American News Dispatch, a recap of a meeting of DC Latin America experts earlier this week on US policy toward the region after one year of the Obama presidency. The Inter-American Dialogue’s Peter Hakim looks at the foreign policy choices facing Brazil as it continues to rise on the global stage. The Dialogue also has Q & A with Peter Hakim, Diego Arria, Luiz Felipe Lampreia, Carl Meacham, John F. Maisto on the upcoming OAS Sec. General elections and the performance of current Sec. General José Miguel Insulza. Just the Facts has up its latest podcast, this time focusing on arms sales and transfers around the region. And Andres Oppenheimer offers his opinion on the new Latin American body formed this week in Mexico. His argument: “What lies behind the creation of the proposed Community is an effort by Mexico to regain a foothold in Latin America, after three years in which the Calderón government has allowed Brazil to virtually displace it from the region's diplomatic community.”
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