January 2004
Following an aborted military coup in April 2002, the tense standoff between supporters and detractors of President Hugo Chávez has continued, raising fears that it could lead once more to a breakdown of the rule of law. Persistent mediating efforts by the Organization of American States and other bodies have, however, helped avoid overt political violence.
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- Freedom of the Press
- Police Killings
- Prison Conditions
- Border Security and the Right to Refugee Status
- Key International Actors
Freedom of the Press
Venezuela has a vigorous and uninhibited opposition press. Journalists, especially those who work for media that oppose Chávez, are in the frontlines of the political dispute. In 2002 and 2003, many were threatened or even beaten by angry government supporters, and pro-Chávez crowds damaged television installations on several occasions. In January 2003, four private television stations highly critical of Chávez (Radio Caracas Televisión, Globovisión, Televen, and Venevisión) faced an official investigation for breaching broadcasting regulations due to their explicit advocacy of a national stoppage that paralyzed the country. President Chávez warned publicly that they could lose their broadcasting licenses. By the end of the year, however, the investigation had still not been concluded and the stations continued to transmit. In May 2003, the National Assembly began debating a government bill on the "social responsibility" of radio and television stations that proposed excessive restrictions on the content of these media. The bill met opposition in the legislature, however, and had not been approved by the end of the year.
Police Killings
According to the respected nongovernmental human rights group PROVEA, 130 people, most of them young male criminal suspects, were victims of extrajudicial execution by national, state, and municipal police forces between October 2002 and September 2003. About one in ten of the victims were children under the age of eighteen. In many cases, the police covered up executions by asserting that the victims were killed in exchanges of gunfire, despite contrary testimony by witnesses. Generally the police responsible for killings escaped justice. The public prosecutor's office reported that between 2001 and April 2003 more than seventy police officers had been charged in connection with unlawful deaths, but only ten had been convicted.
On January 6, 2003, Aragua state police officers shot and wounded Robert Ignacio Díaz, allegedly tortured him by half drowning him in a sewer, and then killed him. The same officers then allegedly murdered the victim's father, Octavio Ignacio Díaz Álvarez, and his brother, David Octavio Díaz, after the latter had discovered them torturing Robert by the roadside. The police also threatened and intimidated family members seeking justice for the killings. On May 10, Robert's girlfriend, Enmary Dahiana Cava, who had been pressing for a full investigation, was shot repeatedly from a moving car and later died in hospital. A companion who was seriously injured in the attack identified Aragua police officers as being responsible. In June, six Aragua state police officers were finally arrested and charged for the Diaz family killings.
Prison Conditions
Conditions in Venezuelan prisons are cruel, inhuman, and degrading. Overcrowding worsened in 2003, and the proportion of pretrial detainees increased for the first time since the introduction in 1999 of a new criminal procedure code. Some prisons are virtually controlled by armed gangs. Prison riots and inmate violence claim hundreds of lives every year; in 2003 PROVEA estimated the prison murder rate to be forty times the national average.
Border Security and the Right to Refugee Status
Lawlessness prevails along parts of Venezuela's 1,300 mile border with Colombia. The Jesuit Refugee Service in Apure State reported in August that it had documented forty-three execution-style killings during the year in one municipality alone, and that kidnappings were also on the rise. Colombian paramilitaries and guerrillas, as well as Venezuelan armed groups and criminal gangs appear to be responsible, but so far such groups have operated with near complete impunity. On August 27, 2003, two people riding a motorbike assassinated Joe Castillo, a Catholic Church human rights worker in Machiques, Zulia state, severely injuring his wife and small son. Castillo had been helping refugees and local peasant communities. After the attack, Castillo's human rights colleagues received death threats.
The security of Colombian refugees in the Venezuelan border states of Apure, Táchira, and Zulia is of pressing concern. According to figures published by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) in August 2003, 1,875 Colombians have requested refugee status in Venezuela. But UNHCR officials say that the real number of refugees is far higher since most try to blend undetected into the population. In August 2003, the government finally established a National Commission on Refugees, and published regulations governing its functions. As of October, however, the commission had failed to tackle the long backlog of asylum applications. Most refugees live in legal limbo, with limited access to healthcare and educational facilities, and at risk of reprisals by Colombian guerrilla or paramilitary groups, which cross the border freely. Since they have no documents as asylum applicants, refugees also face deportation back to Colombia as illegal immigrants.
Key International Actors
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), César Gaviria, has played a key role in trying to help the Venezuelan government and opposition find a peaceful and constitutional solution to the political conflict. Negotiations under OAS auspices led to an agreement in May 2003 allowing a recall referendum to be held, in accordance with article 72 of the Venezuelan Constitution, for all elected officials (including the president, members of congress and local government officials) who had completed half their term by the end of the year. On December 1, OAS and Carter Center observers announced that an opposition drive to collect the 2.4 million signatures needed to hold the recall vote had taken place in an orderly fashion and without serious incidents or disruption by government supporters.
