Human Rights Dossier: Venezuela Repressing Human Rights Defenders

Emily Monajjemi, Silvia Martinez, Elizabeth DelgadoHIS161/HMR 161

Professor Schlotterbeck1 June, 2015

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Executive Summary

Introduction

In the wake of the Caracazo 2014 violent protests in Venezuela, which occurred from

February through March, over 3,000 people were arrested and another 43 died.1 With this

tragedy, the international community began to recognize the dire political situation in Venezuela

and started to take action.2 Although it was not conclusive at first what led to the protests, it is

apparent that those involved in the protests (mainly students, middle class people, and some rural

poor) were being repressed by the state for trying to raise awareness social, political, economic

inequality occurring in Venezuela. Along with facing physical abuse during the protests, they

were also the victims of arbitrary arrests, police brutality, and practices of torture. In order to get

an overview of this human rights issue, it is important to understand the key actors involved, the

international system’s response, and the distinct perspectives between the interpretation of these

protests from the international community and from the viewpoint of President Maduro

Key Actors

The key actors within Venezuela can be divided into two distinct factions: the

government, armed forces, and pro-government parties, and the opposition, consisting of all

those that are protesting the regime.  First off, the government and pro-government parties are

comprised of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which follow the ideology of former

President Hugo Chavez referred as “chavismo”.3 The opposition mainly consists of students,

professional and the middle class population that are in parties such as the Table of Democratic

1 What lies behind the protests in Venezuela? - BBC News. (2014, March 27). Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-263352872

3 Scharf, R. (n.d.). Giving Context to the Anti-Government Protests in Venezuela. Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://www.robinscharf.me/giving-context-to-the-anti-government-protests-in-venezuela/

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Union (MUD)4. The leader of the opposition, and also the party coordinator of the center-left

political party known as Voluntad popular, is Leopoldo Lopez.  The issues that the opposition is

protesting mainly involve the high crime rates, high inflation rates, and severe shortages in basic

necessities.  Along with advocating for better living conditions and economic reform, protestors

are also calling for increased security for the public and the release of those detained in previous

protests.5

International Response

Through the help of social media and news outlets, the international community began to

get involved in this issue since it was apparent that human rights were being violated within the

country. Human rights organizations such as the Inter-American Council on human rights have

pressured Venezuela to ensure they comply with human rights policies by published a report to

highlight the violations. Also, the US began to play a role in trying to deter the escalating

violence and passed Public Law 113-128, which imposed sanctions on the Venezuela

government and also states that the US will monitor Venezuela and support anti-government

groups in their pursuit of democracy and human rights.6  Overall, the international community

has tried to introduce policies into Venezuela to curb the violence and human rights violations,

but could not achieve significant success due to the resistance of the government, particularly

that of Maduro.

Conflict between the Maduro Regime and International Agencies

4  Ibid5 Venezuelan protesters abused, says HRW report - BBC News. (2014, May 5). Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27289120

6 Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (2014 - S. 2142). (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s2142

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Despite the international community’s support for the protesters, it is important to note

Maduro’s perspective regarding protesters to see how it conflicts with that of the international

community’s perspective. For example, many international media outlets portray the protestors

as victims of an authoritarian regime; however, Maduro emphasized during several of his

speeches that he views the protestors as violent terrorists who seek to overthrow a

Democratically elected government. In addition, in his speeches Maduro also has denounced and

criticized all international actors that have scrutinized his adherence to human rights. One of his

accusations includes that the US and other international human right organizations have been

unlawfully meddling with Venezuela’s sovereignty by supporting rebel groups such as the 2002

coup d’état of ex-President Hugo Chavez. According to the article “US Human Rights Abusers

Not Welcome in Venezuela,” Maduro claims that the U.S. unrightfully views itself as the “police

of the world”.7 In response to this criticism, Venezuela has imposed stricter sanctions on US

citizens travelling to Venezuela, claiming that the US does not deserve visas to Venezuela for the

fact that the US is responsible for committing its own human rights violations that it needs to

address and also claiming that US citizens may serve as spies within the country.8

In conclusion

Overall, the brutal treatment of protesters during this period really highlighted the

instability within the government and also highlighted Maduro’s regime inability to adhere to his

human rights commitments. It is apparent excess force, police brutality, arbitrary arrests,

intimidation, censorship, ect. were being utilized by Maduro’s regime in order to repress those

advocating for human rights within Venezuela. In response, the international community became

7 Boothroyd, R. (n.d.). Maduro: "US Human Rights Abusers Not Welcome in Venezuela" Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/112458  Boothroyd, R. (n.d.). Maduro: "US Human Rights Abusers Not Welcome in Venezuela" Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11245

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involved and publically scrutinized Maduro’s role in this repression, which caused Maduro to

retaliate by denouncing all those who criticized him. Therefore, in order to understand the

despotic relationship between the government of Venezuela and its citizens as noted through the

executive summary, it is essential to mention historic presidencies that have promoted this

political culture of an authoritarian regime.

Historical Approach

To effectively understand reasons for the protests in Venezuela today, it is vital to

analyze its governmental history by examining key Presidencies in Venezuela of Romulo

Betancourt, Andres Perez, and Hugo Chavez. Understanding its history, the reasons for

inflation, shortages, violent crime, violation of free speech, and manipulation of elections, can be

understood in order to comprehend the emergence of human rights violations. The history that

will be analyzed begins with the 1958 overthrow of the last unelected dictator, Marcos Perez

Jimenez, which marked the establishment of democracy. The discussion will begin in 1958

because it marked attempted democracy and the beginning of cycles of instability that arose due

to democratization, decentralization, and recentralization processes. The process of establishing

democracy, decentralization, and then recentralization, furthered its violent history that often

kept the general population repressed by reinforcing the tradition of conquered rather than

conqueror. After the end of Jimenez’s dictatorship, the government attempted to further conquer

the people. The violence during the democratization and decentralization period occurred due to

the government’s protection of the state rather than the state protecting its people. Through the

analysis of history, it is observed that democratization, decentralization, and recentralization

processes, induced violence and struggle in order to have a final result of formal democracy. The

struggle and violence present in Venezuelan history has encouraged human rights violations and

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furthers the problems faced today due to the tradition of repression and protests that it has

established.

Romulo Betancourt

Romulo Betancourt, first president of Venezuela in 1959, took government after the

overthrow of Jimenez in 1958. His government illustrated the struggle that occurred during the

democratization and decentralization period. The government struggled to maintain order as the

Venezuelan population attempted to adapt to his form of democracy. While Betancourt

represented the establishment of democracy, his form of democracy limited the participation of

Venezuelan citizens. Believing that united people served as a weapon that would drive the

country into anarchy, his government attempted to conquer the people, which occurred as

Betancourt sought to establish a decentralized democracy leading to the division of people and

government sectors.9 Through institutional channels and two predominant political parties, the

demands of the people were channeled, which resulted in the decentralization of the Venezuelan

government in 1959.10

Apart from limiting the power of the people by creating division, he sought to make the

population submissive. The submissive population consisted of workers and campesinos, while

resistive groups, students and communists, were excluded from Betancourt’s government.11

Betancourt’s limited democratic government created a relationship of distrust between the

government and the people. As a result, students occupied campuses and peasants their land.12

Due to distrust and Betancourt’s attempt to make the population submissive and conquered, his

government repressed people by shooting them in the street and pushing radical sectors outside

9 Ciccariello-Maher, George, “We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution,” Duke University Press: Durham and London, 2013, 10.10 Ibid. 11 Ibid.12 Ibid,11.

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of democratic institutions.13 As a result, Venezuelans sought to overthrow Betancourt since the

economy worsened and neoliberal reforms were favored which created more poverty as it

privatized sectors of Venezuela.14 Betancourt’s loss of control over Venezuela resulted in

constant rebellion.

Betancourt established the practice of the manipulation of the term democracy in

Venezuela as well as the strategy of separating submissive groups from resistant groups. These

two strategies remained in practice up to Maduro’s government. The presidents that continued

after Betancourt used the manipulation of democracy to ensure power. Furthermore, Maduro

used the strategy of division among the population to target the opposition. In many reports, the

Venezuelan protesters of 2014 are described as students. This distinction indicated students as

the group that worked against the state. In both governments, students called for the resignation

of these leaders. These two governments have the effects of inflation and violence in common,

which caused protests. The comparison of these two governments demonstrate the problem of

untrustworthiness between the people and government as well as of inflation and violence to be

persistent problems in Venezuela. These problems in both governments invoked fear and

violence. Fear and violence arose due to the violations of human rights that each government

practiced to maintain groups against the government repressed.

Andres Perez

Before Andres Perez, president of Venezuela in 1989, oil was Venezuela’s

greatest commodity for exportations in the 1940’s. This encouraged Venezuela to focus on oil

rather than learning to industrialize.15 During Andres Perez’s government, oil continued to have

importance in Venezuela. Perez sought to use the oil to be at the same level of industrialization

13 Ibid. 14 Ibid,12. 15 Jose Ragas, “The Bolivarian Revolution,” UC Davis, March 10, 2015.

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as other countries while importing food and basic supplies because Venezuela did not focus on

producing basic supplies.16 His attempts to catch up to the industrialized countries failed due to

the lost time of industrialization and an increasing economic problem. Due to his failed attempts,

he shifted from a social reformist to a neoliberal.17

With his new set of mind, Andres Perez developed a new economic austerity program

called El Paquetazo. El Paquetazo allowed prices to float at a fair price while paving the way for

neoliberalism.18 This reform had grave consequences when it was implemented overnight. It

resulted in the prices of everything to increase and become expensive. As a result, the protest, El

Caracazo, occurred against neoliberalism in February through March of 1989. This protest

resulted in a massacre when the police, sent to control the crowd, joined the crowd in protest,

which resulted in the military stepping in and shooting at the crowd. Amidst the violence,

neighborhoods caught on fire, which led to the massacre.19 Perez’s economic reform failed and

made the economic situation worse. His resignation was called upon through accusations of

corruption, which led to new elections to be opened.20

Andres Perez’s government demonstrated the ongoing problems of inflation and food and

supply shortages. Inflation and shortages have been present problems that Perez could not solve.

His attempts to solve the problem of inflation worsened the conditions in Venezuela by leading

to greater shortages in food and basic supplies as well as by increasing prices of available food

and supplies. Similar to the 2014 protests, El Caracazo, occurred due to the government’s

inability to solve these problems. Both protests took place during different times and have

resulted in violence upon the protestors. While the protestors of 2014 called for the resignation of

16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid.20 Ibid.

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Maduro, the protests of 1989 allowed elections to open. Hugo Chavez’s opportunity for power

had arrived.

Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez gained followers and influence in the army and support from lower classes

in 1992 when he participated in the 1992 failed coup attempt against Andres Perez.21 Although

he did not gain presidential power immediately, in the years 1992 to 1998 he built a political

image. Once he established an image he won the presidential elections in 1999 and remained

president until his death in 2013. He started his presidency as a member of the New Left. The

New Left emerged with the idea of recentralization as a response against Neoliberalism.22 The

New Left rejected being communists but rather socialist despite of their similarities in Latin

American solidarity and hostility to the United States.23 Furthermore, as a New Left leader he

practiced the manipulation of democracy in order to be reelected and maintain presidential power

in 2000, 2006, and 2012.24 To manipulate democracy, he recentralized the state and rewrote the

Venezuelan constitution.25 To gain further influence and continue to be reelected, he kept a

personal connection with the Venezuelan population through his broadcasted show Alo

Presidente in which he attempted to demonstrate that he was one of them while promoting the

new identity that he sought to create of Venezuela through the Bolivarian Revolution.

To achieve reformation, Chavez used the commodity of oil to establish an alliance with

Cuba and benefit the poor of his country.26 After the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost one its

sources of economic aid. With this loss on Cuba’s behalf, Venezuela gave Cuba oil in exchange

21 Ibid. 22 Kent Eaton, “The Centralism of ‘Twenty-First-Century Socialism’: Recentralizing Politics in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia,”Journal of Latin American Studies 45:3, 422. 23 Jose Ragas, “The Origins of the New Left,” UC Davis, March 26, 2015. 24 Ibid. 25 Eaton,422. 26 Ragas, Bolivarian Revolution.

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for teachers and doctors. Cuba received the needed oil and expanded its revolution and presence

through Cuban teachers and doctors. Venezuela gave lower classes medical aid as well as

educational aid with the resources Cuba sent. Furthermore, Venezuela received a model of a

revolution through the Cuban Revolution. Later under Chavez, Venezuela would send its own

doctors to other countries in order to expand the Bolivarian Revolution. Therefore, oil benefitted

Venezuela although it did not help to ease its economic tensions.

Despite economic problems that Venezuela faced, Chavez continued to gain support due

to the benefits that his reform brought to targeted populations of the poor. While this strategy

allowed him to gain support there existed a portion of the population that did not support him. As

a result, in 2002 the first organized attempted coup occurred against him. In this attempted coup

he was kidnapped. Because the military did not cooperate with the demands of the opposition

Chavez was returned. The government believed that the attempted coup was organized from

abroad and within.27 The belief of conspiracies against Chavez led to the creation of the Golinger

Law, which was “used as a pretext to bankrupt human rights watchdogs, prison welfare groups,

and other thorns in the government’s side.”28 Furthermore, this attack against the government led

to pro-government newspapers to call campus and street protests by university students a

subversive group that sought to overthrow the state.29 This coup attempt holds many similarities

to the demands of Maduro’s resignation by the opposition group. In both governments targeted

students as the main opposition group. In order to control opposing views against the

government, the control of the media that Chavez had initiated has continued in the government

of Maduro. Furthermore, these protests demonstrated that the instabilities of the government

27 Ibid. 28 Rory Carroll, “Comandante: Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela,” The Penguin Press: New York, 2013, 199. 29 Carroll, 181.

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shifting from decentralized to recentralize inflict violence due to the distrust between state and its

people.

Not only did the attempted coup result in a greater control of the media, but also a greater

control of elections. The Venezuelan government feared that sub-national governments, who

were created during the decentralizing period and were part of the opposition, would win

elections.30 The opposition and sub-national governments posed a threat to Chavez for three

reasons. First reason was that sub-national governments kept traditional parties alive. Second,

sub-national governments supported the emergence of new leaders that challenged Chavez such

as, Leopoldo Lopez. Third, the sub-national governments had won elections in economically

powerful jurisdictions.31 In order to effectively keep recentralization and socialism in Venezuela,

the authority of Chavez had to remain intact. For these reasons, Chavez manipulated elections.

His administration influenced elections by banning opposition candidates to run. Leopoldo

Lopez was one of those opposition candidates.32 The threat that sub-national governments pose

to Chavez continues to be the same threat to Maduro. Due to this, Leopoldo Lopez has become

Maduro’s prisoner as well as one of the faces of the 2014 protests.

After the coup attempt, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a

report where Venezuela was accused of government repression and intolerance.33 The

government committed repression and intolerance when Chavez targeted media that was against

the government and only maintained those that were pro-Chavez. The only media source against

Chavez that was allowed to remain was Globovision. Chavez allowed it to remain in order to be

able to claim that a lack of control over the media existed. To prove that the media was not

30 Eaton, 430. 31 Ibid. 32 Eaton, 434. 33 Carroll, 184.

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controlled, he would point out the negative comments that Globovision made about his

government. However, the allowed existence of Globovision for strategic purposes did not

protect this media outlet from the government. Many times, Globovision was accused of not

paying its taxes, of altering public order, and of promoting political intolerance.34 The attack

against the media that Chavez initiated left many newspapers, radio stations, and television

channels nervous. They did not know whether they would be attacked next. The threat to the

media began the violation of the freedom of expression, which has continued in Maduro’s

government. Furthermore, the manipulation of elections pointed to the intolerance that the

government had to opposition groups.

After the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013, Maduro, who became the next president, sought

to continue the work of Chavez. Due to this, there are many similarities between the conflicts

that Chavez and Maduro have faced. The continuation of the problems that arose due to

governmental instabilities of decentralization to recentralization have remained and produced a

tradition of violence that has been transformed into violations of human rights. Venezuela has

lacked a stable form of government since 1958. With Maduro in power, there is an attempt to

continue one form of government and one form of method to solve the problems that have not

been solved in the past although it has resulted in the violation of human rights due to the state’s

continuous attempt to conquer the people in order to maintain its power which is protected from

the people.

Analysis

Through the historical approach in addressing this human rights issue, it is apparent that

the protests that began in February 12, 2014 were a continuation of the protests that began in

February 27, 1989. Although Venezuela witnessed the rise of different presidencies under

34 Carroll, 186.

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Romulo Betancourt, Andres Perez, and Hugo Chavez, Nicolás Maduro has achieved the same

legacy of not being able to pull the country out of an economic crisis, which the country has been

plagued with for the past 60 years. Despite the findings by a BP Statistical Review of World

Energy in June 2014 recognizing the country as having the largest oil reserves in the world,

recent studies conducted by the US has concluded that Venezuela’s inflation rate has risen to

56.30%35, which accounts the country as having the third highest inflation rate in the world

behind South Sudan and Syria. Also, a study conducted by the US in March 2014 concluded that

the scarcity index for the country has reached 29.4%36. This disparity highlights these Presidents

inability to find the necessary balance between preserving its protectionist policies that are the

underpinnings of its socialist ideology and “opening up” or privatizing its resources to compete

in the global market— under capitalism.

This tension derives from Venezuela’s and the US’s tumultuous relationship historically,

which has caused Venezuela to continue to impose ineffective social policies at the expense of

its citizens since the leaders of the country are so stringent on not being influenced by democratic

values. If the country continued to open up its market completely towards capitalism, then it

could be inferred that other democratic values such as the promotion of human rights may

continue to influence the region, which deeply contrasts with Venezuela’s authoritarian political

culture.

This authoritarian culture is the main component of what has caused this economic,

social, and political inequality in Venezuela. Authoritarianism has been a human rights issue that

has been reflected historically in other Latin American political systems such as Argentina.

35 Public Law 113-278 –Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014.” United States Congress, December 18, 2014. (Accessed May 13, 2015).

36 Ibid.

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During the “Dirty War” President Perón’s rule was also an authoritarian regime and he justified

that it was lawful and necessary to attack those who opposed him in the name of protecting the

Argentine culture. Although Argentina considered subversive as leftists, Maduro has utilized a

similar strategy in his justification to attack “terrorist” “anti-government” rebels, who are

causing the chaos in Venezuela. In his opinion editorial “Venezuela: A Call for Peace” which

was published in the New York Times, President Maduro emphasized the unique relationship

between the protesters and the US since he accused these rebels as consisting of the same people

“who supported the ousting .. of Hugo Chavez in 2002”37 which the US has been speculated of

being involved with.

By using this form of political “inflammatory rhetoric”38 and depicting those who oppose

the regimes of Perón and Maduro as “rebels”, it highlights the intolerance these authoritarian

regimes have on citizens on who do not align them selves completely with the particular regime.

This repression hinders the promotion of human rights because the leaders of the country are

able to validate their temporary neglect of adhering to their previous human rights commitments.

Instead, these leaders justify their actions by explaining excessive and disproportional force as

necessary in order to preserve the values and order in the country since the regime is dealing

with insurgent groups. This is depiction is preferred by these authoritarian regimes far more than

depicting the groups as citizens, who are organizing collectively in order to address their ills

peacefully to the state. In reality, authoritarian regimes like Venezuela under not only Maduro,

but also under Chavez, Andres, and Betancourt have managed to achieve creating a political

37 Maduro, Nicolás.“Venezuela: A Call for Peace.” New York Times, April 1, 2014. (Accessed May 14, 2015)  38 “Venezuela: UN human rights chief urges halt to violence, inflammatory rhetoric”. United Nations News Centre, 28 February 2014. (Accessed May 14, 2015).

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system in which the protection of the state is valued far above the protection of the citizens the

state is meant to serve.

This inequality has created the backdrop of what led to not only the protests that occurred

in February 2014, but also the same reasons of what led to the protests that occurred in February

1989. This case study highlights that the emergence of these protests in Venezuela in February

2014 are not a new phenomenon, rather these protests are a reflection of the continuous political

social, and economic unrest that has continued to face the country. It is apparent that violence is

going to continue to ensue in this region as the fight for democratization continues. Although

international actors may not be able to directly influence Maduro to stop this form of repression,

the technique of “naming and shaming” through social media and international media outlets and

the acknowledgement of Maduro as committing human rights during this period by international

bodies are essential in holding Maduro’s regime accountable when the appropriate time permits.

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Reference List

Boothroyd, Rachael. Maduro: "US Human Rights Abusers Not Welcome in Venezuela" Venezuelaanalysis.com: Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11245.

Carroll, Rory. “Comandante: Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela,” The Penguin Press: New York, 2013, 181, 184, 186, 199.

Ciccariello-Maher, George, “We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution,” Duke University Press: Durham and London, 2013, 10, 11, 12.

Eaton, Kent. “The Centralism of ‘Twenty-First-Century Socialism’: Recentralizing Politics in Venezuela,Ecuador and Bolivia,”Journal of Latin American Studies 45:3, 422, 430, 434.

Maduro, Nicolás.“Venezuela: A Call for Peace.” New York Times, April 1, 2014. (Accessed May 14, 2015)  

Public Law 113-278 –Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014.” United States Congress, December 18, 2014. (Accessed May 13, 2015).

https://vpn.lib.ucdavis.edu/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-113publ278/pdf/,DanaInfo=www.gpo.gov+PLAW-113publ278.pdf

Ragas, Jose. “The Bolivarian Revolution,” UC Davis, March 10, 2015.

Ragas, Jose. “The Origins of the New Left,” UC Davis, March 26, 2015.

Scharf, R. (n.d.). Giving Context to the Anti-Government Protests in Venezuela. Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://www.robinscharf.me/giving-context-to-the-anti-government-

protests-in-venezuela/

Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (2014 - S. 2142). Retrieved June 1, 2015, from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s2142

Venezuelan protesters abused, says HRW report - BBC News. (2014, May 5). Retrieved May 31,2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27289120

“Venezuela: UN human rights chief urges halt to violence, inflammatory rhetoric”. United Nations News Centre, 28 February 2014. (Accessed May 14, 2015). http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47246#.VVYINs64mt8  

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What lies behind the protests in Venezuela? - BBC News. (2014, March 27). BBC. Retrieved May 31, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-26335287

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