ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNOUNCES INVESTIGATION AGAINST

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 002317

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM VE
SUBJECT: ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNOUNCES INVESTIGATION AGAINST
CARACAS DAILY


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS 1.4 (d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez announced the launch
of a criminal investigation against Caracas daily El
Universal July 27. The Attorney General called the paper's
July 25 editorial entitled "Justice Kneels Down" "a
journalistic plot taken from the next chapter in the CIA's
Manual of Coup-Plotting." In his announcement, Rodriguez
assumed El Universal's guilt before the investigation had
even begun, stating that the editorial "presumably defamed
the Public Ministry and the Judicial Branch." He also
alleged that Juan Martin Echeverria, a well-known Venezuelan
defense lawyer and member of the paper's editorial board, was
using the paper to defend his clients "in the press and not
the court." El Universal said the Attorney General's
investigation was a political attempt to discredit
Echeverria. More importantly, the Attorney General's effort
to criminalize opinion pieces will undoubtedly have a
chilling effect on press freedom. End Summary.

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Justice Kneels Down
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2. (U) Leading Caracas daily El Universal published an
editorial July 25 entitled "Justice Kneels Down," which ran
as a side-bar on the paper's front page and was not
attributed. The editorial said judicial impunity was costing
the Attorney General and the courts their legitimacy and
cited a study by Venezuelan NGO Cofavic highlighting the need
for justice based on facts and not politics. El Universal
closed the piece with an appeal for a "professional,
autonomous and objective" judiciary. The paper's informal
translation of the piece follows:

Subordinating justice to ideology and depriving it of
autonomy and effectiveness is like a train running off the
rails. The Attorney General Office and courts are
increasingly losing legitimacy.

News focus on crime, guerrilla, paramilitary and widespread
insecurity. However, the criminal issue should be the
central piece, as convictions are in short supply and
impunity prevails.

In this connection, human rights NGO Cofavic director
analyzed specific modus operandi that shows abnormalities in
security corps and justice administration. This is a serious
warning because any and all Venezuelans are at high risk.

As stated by Cofavic, a politically biased and ineffective
criminal system and lack of a criminal policy to prevent and
reduce crime in a scientific, reasonable way, result in
growing insecurity.

Criminal justice should be professional and go along with
prevention, investigation, interdiction and indictment.
Justice affects directly society. For this reason,
government remarks and biased statistics result in a feeling
of insecurity.

Most guidelines and social control procedures need to be
revised. Reasonable anti-poverty efforts with the
involvement of all social, economic and political sectors
should take absolute priority. It is not an exclusive fight,
but of the whole nation.

There is need to work closely with domestic and foreign
experts, keep the police decentralization schedule, upgrade
local coordination mechanisms and strengthen justice by
making it professional, autonomous and objective. This is
the citizens' highest desire.

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A "Very Serious" Editorial
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3. (U) Rodriguez claimed El Universal's editorial was part of
a journalistic plot to weaken Venezuelan institutions taken


from the next chapter of the CIA's alleged "Manual of
Coup-Plotting." "What is it they want," Rodriguez asked, "to
intimidate the Public Ministry, to corner the Public
Ministry, to disqualify the Public Ministry?" When
questioned as to the difference between his own prior
criticisms of Venezuelan criminal justice and those expressed
in the editorial, Rodriguez countered that while his own
criticisms were made in the spirit of institutional
improvement, El Universal was attempting to discredit the
Public Ministry. As further evidence of a plot, Rodriguez
also linked the editorial to recent criticism of his ministry
by the Commission of Andean Jurists, and the Mexican and
Argentine ombudsmen.

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Prosecution: Opening A Case To Find A Crime
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4. (C) Rodriguez announced to the press July 27 that the
prosecution would open an investigation "to see if there is
something that can be punished or not." The Attorney General
stated that he had asked the prosecution to conclude the
investigation as quickly as possible. El Universal editor
Elides Rojas told the press July 28 that the Attorney General
was acting under the presumption that a crime had been
committed. He denied the Attorney General's allegation,
stating that "The editorial merely provides context for a
well-known public debate." El Universal editor Taisa Media
told Embassy officials July 29 that she could not find a
basis for criminal charges in the editorial. She claimed the
Attorney General was trying to impress Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez by acting "more catholic than the Pope" in his
fervor to attack perceived enemies.

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The Real Target Of The Attorney General?
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5. (C) In opening the investigation against El Universal,
Rodriguez accused the paper of lending its pages to the
defense of prominent lawyer and member of the editorial board
Juan Martin Echeverria's clients. Rodriguez declared, "It
would appear that (Echeverria) is using the daily in order to
defend his clients in the press and not in court." Rodriguez
acknowledged that there might be some confusion as to whether
the prosecution was investigating the paper or Echeverria,
but he held the paper ultimately responsible for "assuming a
defense that one ought to make in court." El Universal
editor Rojas told the press that the Attorney General's
investigation was a political attempt to discredit Echeverria
and destroy his law practice. Still, El Universal editor
Media told Embassy officials that the editorial board was
split as to whether the paper or Echeverria was the Attorney
General's prime target.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) Whether Echeverria or El Universal is the ultimate
target of the Attorney General's investigation, his attempt
to essentially criminalize opinion pieces will have a
chilling effect on the increasingly beleaguered Venezuelan
press. Media outlets - already weighed down by a penal code
that punishes dissent - are likely to intensify their efforts
at self-censorship in an effort to protect themselves from
further reprisals. This is an issue on which most of the
world's independent media should be able to agree. It seems
to be fertile territory for an op-ed.
Brownfield


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