Venezuela: Close Chavez’s New Censorship Office

[naaman fletcher]

From an organization Judy views as credible:

Why would any progressive support this government?

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/07/21/venezuela-close-chavez-s-new-censorship-office

"Chávez has created a new tool for controlling public debate in Venezuela," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "The new decree would allow the president to block the discussion of topics that are inconvenient for his government, blatantly violating the rights of expression and to information, which are at the heart of a democratic society."

....

Since November 2009, the Venezuelan government has been under instruction from the Inter American Court of Human Rights to take measures to protect Humberto Prado, director of the nongovernmental organization Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones), who was facing a "grave risk for his life and integrity." The government never adopted the measures. On May 20, Prado participated in a peaceful demonstration in front of the Supreme Court with families of people in detention, protesting long delays in judicial procedures and prison violence. A week later, seven unknown individuals dressed in black, with sunglasses, and riding motorcycles without license plates, appeared at his apartment building when Prado was not home, and asked a building employee for the "director of prisons."

On May 6, Rocío San Miguel, president of the group Citizen Watch (Control Ciudadano), in a television appearance, denounced that military officials were members of Chávez's political party (United Socialist Party of Venezuela), a practice that is prohibited by the Venezuelan Constitution. The next day an unmarked car whose occupants she did not recognize began to follow her while she was driving with her daughter. She then received repeated threats via Twitter, including one claiming, "I am following you." San Miguel sought protection from the government, but none has been provided.

A recent report by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights documented that there "continues to be a climate of hostility and threats against the life and physical integrity of human rights defenders in Venezuela."