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
)

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Summary
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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.

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Ortega vs. Ayala
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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.

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Carlos Ayala
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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.

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HR Groups React
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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.

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Comment
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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


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