Re: [OPE] Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Chávez

Diegos’ link forms part of broader document entitled: “Why human rights are wrong?”. This should be enough to cast doubts upon this source.   But we can evaluate Human Right Watch’s report on Venezuela on its own merits. Who can seriously deny the steps back on basics civil rights in Venezuela?   Of course, there have been some advances concerning channels for participation. But why should we justify the steps back?   Due to the notorious cases of corruption involving high ranking positions in Venezuelan government , the ban of those politicians immediately calls one’s attention. Some of them are politicians with real possibilities of facing Chávez’s competition in the pools. But can we say the same thing about chavistas officials banned?   If it rarely were the case, it would worth to sacrifice few of them to manage opponents out of the pools reducing the risk of accusations of partiality.   But we have to judge this in the light of the way elections worked in the pre-chávez democracy in Venezuela. We were among the few countries in Latin America that didn’t have formal entry barriers to democratic actors –together with Costa Rica.   This was extremely difficult in a continent dominated by military dictatorships. After the democratization of the majority of Latin American countries in the 1980’s, how can we justify the excess of Chávez and his threaten upon basic democratic and socialist values?   Regards, A. Agafonow   ----- Mensaje original ---- De: paul bullock <paulbullock@ebms-ltd.co.uk> Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> Enviado: viernes, 19 de septiembre, 2008 13:42:47 Asunto: Re: [OPE] Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Chávez Alejandro   why do you think this report is published NOW? Who is it aimed at? If Chavez had been assassinated wouldn't have this been  balm on the troubled 'liberals' conscience?   Diego's note is quite appropriate.   Do you think that it is wrong to  disqualify opposition candidate Leopoldo Lopez, currently mayor of Chacao for corruption, having engineered a 60 million bolivars ($106,000) donation to his newly formed political party, Primero Justicia, from the state oil company in 1998 when both he and his mother were working there????  Venezuela's Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions endorsing the Comptroller General's ruling temporarily to disqualify nearly 300 oppositionand pro-Chavez Venezuelans accused of corruption from holding public office.     ----- Original Message ----- From: Diego Guerrero To: Outline on Political Economy mailing list Cc: OPE-L Administrator Sent: Friday, September 19, 2008 11:26 AM Subject: Re: [OPE] Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Chávez See http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/HRW.html Who is behind Human Rights Watch? (2004) Under President Clinton, Human Rights Watch was the most influential pro-intervention lobby: its 'anti-atrocity crusade' helped drive the wars in ex-Yugoslavia. Under George W. Bush it lost influence to the neoconservatives, who have their own crusades. But the 'two interventionisms' are not so different anyway: Human Rights Watch is founded on belief in the superiority of American values. It has close links to the US foreign policy elite, and to other interventionist and expansionist lobbies. ...   ----- Original Message ----- From: Alejandro Agafonow To: OPE@lists.csuchico.edu Sent: Friday, September 19, 2008 10:42 AM Subject: [OPE] Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Chávez "The 230-page report, “A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela,”examines the impact of the Chávez presidency on institutions that are essential for ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law: the courts, the media, organized labor, and civil society."   Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Chávez http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/18/venezu19844.htm   What’s happening in Venezuela is worrying. The director of Human Right Watch was expelled from Venezuela . I suppose this report is the reason. But a democratic government should not act like this concerning criticism.   Recently some political leaders of the opposition were banned for participating in the next election based on corruption charges. But this seems to be a stratagem of Chávez. We did not see this even during the guerrilla back to the 1960’s.   A. Agafonow ________________________________ _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope ________________________________ _______________________________________________ ope mailing list ope@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope

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Received on Fri Sep 19 08:32:27 2008