HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEFEND FORMER IAHRC PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001012 SIPDIS NSC FOR CBARTON USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014 TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS VE SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEFEND FORMER IAHRC PRESIDENT AYALA Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d ) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Venezuelan prosecutors postponed until April 14 the opening of a formal investigation against former Inter-American Commission on Human Rights President Carlos Ayala. All the major Venezuelan human rights groups and Human Rights Watch rallied to support Ayala April 5, when he went to appear before prosecutors, and publicly called the investigation an attempt to intimidate human rights groups in Venezuela and interfere with Ayala's work. Ayala, the President of the Andean Commission of Jurists and an important human rights lawyer in Venezuela, told poloff March 29 he believes the intention of the prosecutors' action is to get a judge to forbid him from leaving the country, and so impede his work on complaints about the human rights practices in Venezuela before the IAHRC. While he has not been officially advised of the reason for his summons, Ayala speculates it involves his alleged role in the sort-lived government of Pedro Carmona in April 2002. End Summary. -------------- Ortega vs. Ayala -------------- ¶2. (C) Prosecutor Luisa Ortega called former Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) President Carlos Ayala to her office April 5 to formally notify him he was under investigation. After waiting three hours, Ayala was given another citation to appear on April 14. While Ortega has not formally informed Ayala why he is to be investigated, Ayala told poloff March 29 that he assumed he would be charged with conspiracy for his alleged role in writing the Carmona Decree in April 2002. This accusation is based on one mention in the autobiography of Pedro Carmona, where Carmona names Ayala as one of eight persons whose advice "was heard." Ayala said he was in Miraflores Palace for 12 minutes on April 12, 2002, and told Carmona that he was crazy, the decree illegal, and the events which were unfolding constituted a coup. He then spent several hours in DISIP headquarters, trying to win the release of then National Assembly Deputy Tarek William Saab, a leading supporter of President Hugo Chavez who had been put in custody temporarily. -------------- Carlos Ayala -------------- ; ¶3. (C) Ayala is President of the Andean Commission of Jurists, and a Professor of Public Law at the Catholic University in Caracas. He served as a commissioner on the IACHR from 1996 to 1999, serving as its president during his last year. Ayala described himself to poloff as a doer rather than a talker, working behind the scenes to strengthen the various small and weak human rights groups active in Venezuela. Ayala said his most important role is as an intermediary before the IACHR, helping shepherd cases through the IACHR bureaucracy. Ayala said he suspected that the GOV intention in citing him on these spurious charges was to obtain an order from a judge prohibiting him from traveling outside Venezuela, and so disrupt his work with the IACHR. Ayala noted that he had dispersed some of his work among other lawyers, in anticipation that this might happen, so that a move against him would not lead to a paralyzation of the cases before the IACHR. Ayala said he had many good friends in the international human rights community, and expected that his case would generate outrage within Venezuela, and internationally. -------------- HR Groups React -------------- ¶4. (U) Representatives of the most important human rights groups in Venezuela protested in front of the Attorney General's Office on April 5, in support of Ayala. In a statement released that day, COFAVIC, the Vicariate of Human Rights, and two smaller human rights groups highlighted Ayala's critical role supporting human rights groups in Venezuela, especially with regard to the IACHR. The organizations called the potential investigation an attempt to "openly criminalize the defense of human rights," especially the use of the Inter-American system. Pedro Nikken, former President of the Inter-American Human Rights Court told reporters April 5 that the prosecutor's actions were one more example of the use of the Attorney General's Office as an instrument of political revenge by government supporters. ¶5. (U) Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez to suspend the investigation immediately, saying it was a "clear case of political persecution against someone who has been an efficient critic of the Chavez government's human rights record." HRW also notes that the Ayala case "shows the intention of the Venezuelan authorities to use the penal system as an instrument of harassment against those who criticize the government." Rodriguez responded April 6 calling the HRW statement a "grave interference in the internal affairs of the country." Rodriguez also denied that the Attorney General's Office was engaged in, or would engage in, political prosecutions. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Ayala's assessment of the Attorney General's motive in bringing the case against him is probably correct. Several important cases have recently been accepted by the IACHR, including one which will focus attention on the GOV's attack on judicial independence. By undermining Ayala's effectiveness, even if only by obstructing his ability to travel temporarily, the GoV also makes it clear to those who would challenge it on human rights grounds that, prominent or not, the government is prepared to act against them. Brownfield NNNN 2005CARACA01012 - CONFIDENTIAL