Inter-American Body Denounces Rights Policies of Venezuela, Cuba

02 May 2006
Inter-American Body Denounces Rights Policies of Venezuela, Cuba

New report by Organization of American States details human rights abuses

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Organization of American States (OAS) is expressing
concern about the human-rights situations in Venezuela and Cuba.

In a May 2 statement, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
said in Venezuela the government of President Hugo Chávez is "maligning"
the country's human-rights workers by referring to such workers as "coup
plotters" and agents of instability.

The commission said it also was concerned that Venezuelan human-rights
groups are being prosecuted for receiving financial support from
international rights organizations. These prosecutions are being made,
said the commission, under the guise of "soliciting foreign intervention
in [Venezuelan] internal political affairs."

The concerns were made in the commission's annual report on the
human-rights situation in the Western Hemisphere, in which a chapter was
included about Venezuela. In that chapter, the OAS commission said it
had received reports of the "impunity" that "surrounds the phenomena of
violence against socially marginalized persons and the persecution of
those living in rural areas who are involved in the process of agrarian
reform."

In its chapter about Cuba, the OAS human-rights commission expressed
concern about the lack of free and fair elections "based on universal
suffrage and secret balloting as an expression of sovereignty of the
people" in that Caribbean nation.

The OAS report recounted a series of acts of harassment carried out
against political dissidents of the Cuban government during 2005.
Several people were detained under the charge of "pre-criminal
dangerousness," meaning these people were not charged with any crime,
but detained as a security measure.

The human-rights commission said it received information on the
continued practice of the Cuban courts to judge the accused based on
ideological and political criteria. The commission said it has stated
consistently that Cuba "lacks the separation of powers necessary to
ensure an administration of justice free of interference from other
branches of government."

The commission said it also continued to receive reports of acts of
repression and censorship against those wishing to express themselves
freely in Cuba. Such acts included mistreatment of journalists,
criminal prosecution and imprisonment of independent journalists, prior
censorship, attacks and acts of intimidation against journalists and the
application of so-called "contempt" laws.

Another abuse in Cuba, according to the commission, concerned the harsh
prison conditions of most prisoners in that country, in particular, of
political dissidents. A group of 75 dissidents sentenced in April 2003
remains imprisoned under poor conditions, the commission said.

The United States and the international community repeatedly have
condemned human rights abuses in Venezuela and Cuba. A report released
April 5 by the U.S. State Department says that in Venezuela "continued
politicization of an already corrupt and inefficient judiciary,
implementation of new laws governing libel and media content that
further restricted freedom of speech and press, and official harassment
of the political opposition characterized the human rights situation"
during 2005.

The department’s report, called Supporting Human Rights and Democracy:
The U.S. Record 2005-2006, also said other "serious problems remained"
in Venezuela. The report cited police and military units that killed
criminal suspects in "confrontations," which "eyewitness testimony often
categorized as executions."

For Cuba, the State Department report said that for 47 years, the Cuban
government of Fidel Castro has "consistently spurned domestic and
international calls for greater political tolerance and respect for
human rights."

In 2005, the Cuban government continued to ignore or violate virtually
all of its citizens' fundamental rights, including the right to change
their government. In addition, the Cuban people did not enjoy freedom
of speech, press or movement, and were denied the right to assemble
peacefully or freely form associations, said the report. The Western
Hemisphere section of the report is available on the State Department
Web site.

For more on U.S. policy toward Venezuela and Cuba, see The Americas.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)

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