GOV DAMAGE CONTROL OVERWHELMED BY BARRAGE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001011

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS USAID DCHA/OTI FOR RPORTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: GOV DAMAGE CONTROL OVERWHELMED BY BARRAGE OF
INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM

REF: A. CARACAS 560

B. CARACAS 634

Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for reasons 1.4
(B) and (D)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) The GOV attempted to supersede negative international
media and NGO reports about alleged human rights violations
by speaking directly to the international community in
Caracas March 14 and 16. Among the efforts, President Hugo
Chavez called together Ambassadors to Venezuela March 5 and
then European Union Ambassadors March 18 to refute the human
rights allegations and to criticize the opposition's
signature drive to unseat him. International organizations
and NGOs criticized the GOV's handling of a proposed
presidential recall referendum before GOV security forces
clashed with protesters from February 27 to March 5. Most
recently, the differences aired with a letter from the OAS
regarding National Electoral Council (CNE) assertions of
international bias. Other criticism emanated from the EU and
regional human rights organizations (see para 8). End
Summary.

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GOV Counterattacks International Critics
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2. (C) On March 16, the GOV responded to alleged &big lies8
of GOV human rights abuses and unfair manipulation of the
presidential recall process with a briefing for the
international community headed by Vice President Jose Vicente
Rangel. "There is not one violation of human rights in this
government,8 Rangel asserted. "We would be the first to
denounce it (human rights abuses),not the hypocrites and
liars who always violated human rights in the past," Rangel
said. He blamed armed civilians for the deaths of nine (vice
12) protesters and claimed that the accounts of high
casualties, missing protesters, and GOV torture are a media
invention. The purpose of the meeting, Rangel asserted, was
to counter alleged media and NGO misinformation because "we
are certain one of our problems is how information is
disseminated internationally." He later admitted the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' (IACHR) &campaign
against the government8 is having an effect on international
opinion and blasted Human Rights Watch as clueless
bureaucrats.


3. (C) Appearing with Rangel, National Assembly Deputy Luis
Tascon explained the opposition's alleged &mega-fraud8 in
the process to convoke a recall referendum on President Hugo
Chavez. He claimed the pro-GOV observers were not allowed to
do their jobs during the opposition's signature drive,
resulting in large numbers of signatures being forged. He
said the proof of fraud would &fill this room,8 but
presented only a handful of examples. Rangel later assured
the GOV would allow a recall, but not under conditions of
opposition trickery or violence. Any attempt to overthrow
Chavez &illegally8 would fail, he said, because the GOV is
more powerful and organized than April 11, 2002, when Chavez
was briefly deposed.


4. (U) During his weekly televised program, March 14, Chavez
also denied that the government had abused human rights and
accused members of the opposition for protest-related deaths.
"There is no proof (of human rights violations),and if
there was, you know that my government would investigate."
Chavez said that his government "was forced to act to defend
the Constitution, the law, and about all, public safety."

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Redirecting Blame to a Familiar Target: U.S.
--------------


5. (C) Chavez blamed the U.S. for Venezuela's problems during
a March 5 address to the Diplomatic Corps, prompting DCM to
walk out. The harangue was a repeat of his February 29
speech to a demonstration of his followers. In response to
the March 11 EU Parliament resolution on Venezuela, Chavez


summoned the European Union Ambassadors on March 18. A Dutch
diplomat told PolCouns that President Chavez verbally
attacked the Ambassadors. The diplomats thought they were
going to have an opportunity to discuss the recent events
with the President when Chavez dismissed the press a few
minutes after the meeting began. Chavez, however, then began
a multi-hour monologue, criticizing European attitudes as
fascist and warning the Ambassadors that if their countries
were going to behave like the U.S. they could expect similar
treatment. One key element in both events was Chavez
exhorting the ambassadors to tell their foreign ministries
the truth, i.e. the Chavista version of events in Venezuela.


6. (U) Chavez had previously attacked domestic human rights
NGOs during his February 15 weekly televised program. Chavez
accused three prominent and respected Venezuelan human rights
NGOs (Cofavic, Provea, and Red de Apoyo) of collaborating
with the Washington-based Center for Justice and
International Law to "threaten a legitimately established
government." He claimed the NGOs received funds from the US
National Endowment for Democracy (NED),which he accused of
being a tool for USG meddling in Venezuelan politics.
Cofavic and two other Venezuelan organizations denounced
Chavez's statements as "a threat to the work of human rights
organizations in Venezuela." Amnesty International agreed in
its February 18 statement and demanded Chavez retract the
allegations.

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International Criticism: Human Rights
--------------


7. (U) --The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) released a report March 18 that covers events up to
October 2003. It identified a "clear weakness" in
institutions, criminal impunity, and a growing concentration
of power in the executive.

--Human Rights Watch criticized the GOV's denial of human
rights violations March 14, stating that testimony and
evidence collected by group prove National Guardsmen are
"unquestionably" guilty of torture, including electrocutions
and burnings. Jose Miguel Vivanco also blamed "agents of the
state" for nine deaths and warned the Chavez administration
that it was "grave danger" of losing its democratic
legitimacy. He added that the majority of the detained were
set free and denied any knowledge of "forced disappearances."

--On March 12 the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA)
accused the GOV of systematic violations of freedom of
expression and press and of attacking any media that "doesn't
bend to his (Chavez's) conditions," which provokes attacks
from Chavez supporters. It also denounced the GOV's
noncompliance with a "constitutional, democratic and
electoral solution" to Venezuela's political crisis and
expressed concern about recent Supreme Court statements
discounting the authority of international institutions and
the "absolute right" of freedom of expression.

--The IACHR included Venezuela in a list of five American
countries with serious human rights concerns March 12. It
reiterated concerns about protest related deaths, injuries,
and detentions.

--On March 8, Reporters Without Borders requested the
government condemn attacks on journalists and order an
investigation of 10 alleged attacks on journalists by GOV
forces since February 27.

--On March 6, the International Society for Human Rights and
the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, two prominent European NGOs,
issued a communique criticizing the GOV for "subterfuges and
false arguments ... historically used by other despots that
ended up killing millions of human being with the sole
purpose of perpetuating themselves in power." The statement
calls for international public opinion to "categorically
reject" the GOV's human rights abuses.

--Human Rights Watch March 5 urged "a thorough investigation
into allegations that state security forces have beaten and
abused detained protesters." The statement also raised
concerns about opposition vandalism and violence and urged


both sides to pursue peaceful avenues of reconciliation.

--On March 3, Reporters Without Borders protested the failure
of the GOV to prevent attacks on about a dozen journalists
since February 27, implying that GOV security forces were to
blame. "If the media take sides against President Chavez, on
occasion outrageously, this can still never justify the use
of force against their reports."

--A March 4 statement from Amnesty International criticized
the GOV for "excessive use of force and detentions."

-------------- --------------
International Criticism: Recall Referendum
-------------- --------------


8. (U) --OAS Observer Mission Chief Fernando Jaramillo
released a letter March 19 responding to March 18 comments
from National Electoral Council (CNE) President Francisco
Carrasquero criticizing the OAS and Carter Center electoral
observers as biased toward the opposition. The letter
outlined the OAS observer mission based on the May 29
agreement, the OAS's objective and successful history
observing electoral processes, and the GOV's invitation to
observe the petition campaign and the verification process.
Jaramillo asked the CNE President to share proof of OAS bias
and state that the OAS observation delegation would leave
Venezuela if asked to do so by the CNE. (Note: On March 23
Jaramillo met with the CNE for a very tense two hours. The
CNE majority said the OAS/TCC were biased by applying
independent criteria to the verification process. They did
not, however, ask the OAS/TCC observers to leave.)

--On March 15, the Group of Friends of Venezuela released a
communique to express its concern about delays in the recall
process. They released a similar statement March 5.

--The European Union March 4 lamented the protest violence
and expressing solidarity with the OAS's March 2 opinion that
the CNE was using technicalities to force signatures into a
revalidation process.

--The OAS and Carter Center released a joint statement March
2 expressing disagreement with the CNE's decision to send
over 800,000 recall signatures to a revalidation process.

--The European Union expressed its concern over the delay of
the signature authentication process February 23. In a
statement, the EU welcomed the CNE's February 28 deadline for
completing the process and emphasized "the will of the
signers must be respected."

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Conclusion
--------------


9. (C) The GOV is struggling to repair significant damage to
its international human rights reputation. The GOV's
wholesale denial of guilt amidst a plethora of charges makes
it look ludicrous and disdainful. The occasional handful of
"mega-fraud" examples thrown out by Chavez and Tascon are
mega-insignificant and are often errors the opposition admits
to and included in its internal audit. The GOV's blaming of
the opposition for "attacking itself" and allegedly forging
870,000 signatures, only worked to unite a recently fractious
network of domestic human rights NGOs. Complete text of many
of the referenced statements from NGOs and international
organizations can be found at the Caracas SIPRNet site:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/caracas/index .cfm
SHAPIRO


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2004CARACA01011 - CONFIDENTIAL