End impunity for Venezuela’s human rights violators

End impunity for Venezuela's human rights violators
BY IRWIN COTLERAND JARED GENSER JGENSER@PERSEUS-STRATEGIES.COM
02/16/2015 7:36 PM 02/16/2015 7:36 PM

A little over a year ago, Venezuelans took to the streets when student
leaders organized a massive protest with opposition politicians to
respond to the rapidly deteriorating economic and security situation.
The protestors called for the resignation of President Nicolás Maduro.
On that day and over the subsequent months, the government responded
with an iron fist, killing 43 people, arresting more than 3,000 and
sending more than 70 to jail.

Reports from Venezuela today are sobering: Shortages of basic supplies
have resulted in the rationing of staples, hours-long lines for
groceries and the transformation of supermarkets into military zones.
The economy is set to shrink another 7 percent in 2015, with inflation
over 60 percent. A person is murdered approximately every 20 minutes.
And with the decline in oil prices, the country is on the verge of
default. Yet especially as the domestic situation deteriorates, the
international community must demand Maduro respect the human rights of
his people, including immediately releasing all political prisoners in
the country.

The current situation of Venezuela's most prominent political prisoner,
Leopoldo López, leader of the opposition party Voluntad Popular — and
our client — exemplifies the injustice. Though López had issued a
peaceful call to action, he was quickly branded public enemy No. 1 of
Venezuela's authoritarian regime. Just after the major protest on Feb.
12, 2014, the government claimed he was trying to overthrow it through
violent means.

Subsequently, López turned himself in to Venezuelan military authorities
in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands saying: "[I]f my
imprisonment helps awaken our people, if it is good enough to finally
make Venezuela wake up so that the majority of those of us who want
change are able to effect that change peacefully and democratically …
then it is worth it."

López knew that his case was headed to a sham court, as an independent
judiciary has become a distant memory in Venezuela after 15 years of
United Social Party rule. A year into his detention and six months into
his trial, perhaps the most surprising aspect of his case is that the
government hasn't even tried to hide the fact that López is Maduro's
political prisoner.

His trial has been a farce. Not only has the prosecution advanced the
bizarre claim that López used "subliminal messages" to incite his
followers to violence, but Maduro has relentlessly assailed him
publicly, referring to him as a "murderer," even though he hasn't even
been charged with this crime. And the judge in his case admitted more
than 100 witnesses for the prosecution and denied all but two witnesses
for the defense.

Most recently, in retaliation for his wife, Lilian, meeting Vice
President Joe Biden, a dozen men wearing all-black and ski masks and
heavily armed destroyed everything in his cell and threw him into a
small isolation cell, with no toilet or running water.

Yet despite these ongoing injustices, López has continued his calls for
a nonviolent solution to Venezuela's pending implosion. His outspoken
advocacy has come at great personal sacrifice: He has been held in
solitary confinement in a military prison for a year, without access to
his family or counsel for extended periods. And as López's human rights
are infringed upon, the government has proceeded with violating the
rights of all Venezuelans. Just last month, the Venezuelan Ministry of
Defense authorized the use of lethal weapons by the national armed
forces against protestors to "prevent disorder." The situation in
Venezuela is bleak.

The United States has taken action to advance human rights in Venezuela.
In September 2014, President Obama called for Lopez's release, and in
December, Obama signed legislation that imposes sanctions on Venezuelan
government officials who have been complicit in human-rights violations,
though the legislation has yet to be implemented.

These sanctions follow a round of travel-visa bans. But this isn't
enough. With the thaw between the United States and Cuba, the United
States now has increased political capital in the region. The U.S.
government should join with like-minded countries to challenge
Venezuela's neighbors in Latin America to press Maduro to end the
impunity for human-rights violators. Obama must also push this agenda at
the U.N. Human Rights Council in March and the Summit of the Americas in
April.

Without the world's further engagement, however, the deteriorating
human-rights situation in Venezuela will accelerate. Despite all his
bluster, last week a beleaguered Maduro publicly acknowledged his desire
to better relations with the United States. But ehe United States
shouldn't be fooled — it must increase the pressure on Maduro to respect
the fundamental human rights of all Venezuela's people.

IRWIN COTLER IS A MEMBER OF THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT AND FORMER MINISTER
OF JUSTICE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA. JARED GENSER IS AN
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN-RIGHTS LAWYER. THEY SERVE AS INTERNATIONAL COUNSEL
TO LEOPOLDO LÓPEZ.

Source: End impunity for Venezuela's human rights violators | The Miami
Herald The Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article10489547.html