Venezuelan Rights
Venezuelan activists push for prisoners' release
Venezuelan human rights groups are hoping to enlist opposition
politicians in their effort to spring dozens of people they consider
political prisoners. President Hugo Chávez has denied that the
government is jailing opponents.
BY JIM WYSS
jwyss@MiamiHerald.com
MARACAIBO, Venezuela -- Human rights groups are ratcheting up pressure
on President Hugo Chávez to release at least 55 people they claim to be
political prisoners, some suffering from major illnesses.
Members of the civil rights group Women in Black, who have been on a
hunger strike for almost a month, are calling on opposition candidates
and politicians Saturday to sign a letter to Chávez asking him to
declare a general amnesty for the prisoners.
"This protest is just getting started," said the group's national
coordinator Sonia Camacho, who began her hunger strike on Aug 5. "We're
also collecting signatures nation-wide to prove to the government that
it's not just us who want their release."
Government officials have suggested the protest is an attempt to tarnish
its image as the nation heads into a tight 2012 presidential race.
"Venezuela does not have political prisoners," Chávez said during a
cabinet meeting last month. "But there are some imprisoned politicians."
Even so, Chávez asked the courts to provide clemency to prisoners who
are in poor health "regardless of who they are or what their opinions
might be."
So far, only two political prisoners have benefitted from that measure,
Camacho said. Alejandro Peña Esclusa, who was arrested last year on
charges of conspiracy, and Lázaro Forrero, a policeman detained for his
role in the 2002 attempted coup against Chávez, were given medical leave.
But the two men remain under house arrest, are not allowed to talk to
the media or leave the country. And others who are suffering medical
problems have not been given the same privileges, Camacho said.
"He knows that by granting favors to two people he can take the pressure
off," Camacho said. "But we want amnesty for everyone."
In its letter to politicians, the Women in Black said "many of the
political prisoners are facing grave health problems. In other cases, we
don't know the magnitude of their terrible reality, because the
authorities have kept them from receiving adequate medical attention."
At the public square in downtown Maracaibo — in the western state of
Zulia — six young men were strewn across mattresses in the sweltering
heat. They began their hunger strike on Monday, after a group of women,
who had joined the Women in Black initiative, called off their efforts
after 15 days.
Alexander Tirado is one of the leaders of the group called Operation
Liberty, which has launched several campaigns across the country. While
the government has labeled them opposition pawns, the group has no
political affiliation, Tirado said.
"We have people from the far right all the way to the far-left here," he
said. "I think we represent the true left because Chávez is the real
savage capitalist. He has all the power concentrated in his hands."
In its annual report, Human Rights Watch warned that the president's
control over the judiciary system had created a "precarious human rights
situation" that threatened journalists, activists and political opponents.
Chávez has said that the clemency petitions are out of his hands.
"I'm no dictator, I can't give orders to other branches of power," he
said during the cabinet meeting.
The strikers in Maracaibo are particularly interested in the fate of
José "Mazuco" Sánchez, a local politician who was sentenced to 19 years
for murder.
Sánchez was the chief of security for Manuel Rosales, the former
opposition governor of Zulia state, who fled to Peru in 2009 amid
corruption charges. Supporters say those charges were politically
motivated and intended to sideline Rosales, who ran for president in 2006.
Last year, Sánchez ran for and won a seat in Congress. But three months
after that victory, he was sentenced for the death of a man who was held
in state custody. Critics said the evidence was flimsy, his accusers
anonymous and the charges politically motivated.
Sánchez is suffering from a swollen prostate and a spinal lesion that
require treatment, his Un Nuevo Tiempo party has said.
In it's original letter to Chávez the Women in Black chastised him for
going to Cuba to seek treatment for cancer while denying "political
prisoners the right to seek care, not in Cuba, but in our very own country."
The issue resonates in Venezuela, because Chávez was given a pardon
after he tried to topple the government in 1992. That event launched his
political career and helped him capture the presidency in 1998.
Hunger strikes are an increasingly popular form of civil disobedience in
this country. The Women in Black and Operation Liberty have held lengthy
hunger strikes in front of the Organization of American States and in
Chávez's hometown of Barinas.
Last year, farmer Franklin Brito died at the age of 49 after a prolonged
fast damaged his health. He was asking the government to return
expropriated land.
Andres Bauza is one of the protesters in Maracaibo. He quit eating on
Monday and said he is committed to the cause until "things change."
"I thought about this decision for a long time," said Bauza, a
21-year-old psychology student. "If I didn't do this who would?"
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/25/v-fullstory/2376609/venezuelan-activists-push-for.html
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