USAID/OTI WATCHDOGS START TO SHED LIGHT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 000175

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM VE
SUBJECT: USAID/OTI WATCHDOGS START TO SHED LIGHT

CARACAS 00000175 001.3 OF 003


Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor,
for Reason 1.4(b).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) In October of 2005, the Pan American Development
Foundation (PADF) began implementation of a USAID/OTI funded
project to develop a grants program to support watchdog
organizations. Although the Bolivarian "Revolution" is
failing its citizens in many ways, there are few reputable
organizations dedicated to documenting this failure. PADF
has funded 9 NGOs to support projects focusing on documenting
and reporting on the BRV's failures, namely: judicial
independence, the right of association, violent crime, the
prison situation, self-censorship of the media, harassment of
journalists, women's political rights, human rights, and BRV
support to micro-entrepreneurs. These are all sectors where
the BRV is not living up to relevant articles of the
constitution or international agreements, and these watchdog
organizations are documenting those failures. These NGOs'
ability to continue observing, documenting and presenting the
deteriorating situation in Venezuela will depend on further
funding for 2007-2008. Currently, USAID/OTI is slated to
phase out this program at the end of the fiscal year. End
Summary.

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The Observatories
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2. (C) USAID/OTI entered into a cooperative agreement with
PADF to provide economic resources to well established
organizations to carry out watchdog monitoring and analysis
of the real situation in nine different areas of Venezuelan
life. These organizations spent the better part of 2006
carrying out careful collection of data and analyzing that
information. The first half of 2007 will be dedicated to
presenting that data to Venezuelans and the international
community. Following is a summary of each of the projects.
A full cable will be dedicated to each as the organizations
present their results.


3. (C) Judicial Independence: The Venezuelan judicial
system is effectively totally controlled by Chavez, as was
made completely clear during the January 2006 state of the
union address when all the Supreme Court justices stood and
chanted "Oh, Ah, Chavez will not go" (the Chavista chant
during the August 2004 recall referendum). Consorcio
Justicia is focusing its observation on the procedures of
civil and criminal cases as they relate to due process and
rule of law (stipulated in international agreements such as
the American Convention on Human Rights, among others).
These procedures include being tried in a timely fashion,
being tried in freedom, the right of appeal, and the right of
a free and fair trial. According to initial information, the
courts focusing on criminal and civil matters are overworked,
understaffed and operate in deteriorating facilities.
Individuals awaiting trial are often times not allowed to be
tried in freedom, and the wait time for trials goes well
beyond reasonable and the time permitted by international
law.


4. (C) Right of Association: One of the Bolivarian
government's greatest claims is that it is inclusive and
participatory. The NGO SINERGIA is carrying out a study of
the different mechanisms of participation in Venezuela,
including the now famous "communal councils", to analyze
their structure, their modus operandi and effectiveness.
They are also reviewing spontaneous forms of association,
such as street protests (over 1200 a year) and the BRV's
response to them (violent repression of protests has

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increased four-fold in 2006, and protest leaders are often
put in prison).


5. (C) Violent Crime: Violence in Venezuela has increased
dramatically in recent years. The security situation has
deteriorated to the level that the national government has
forbidden the police or the National Statistics Institute to
release data on violent crime. At the same time, local
offices and businesses report the government is reducing
funding to local police forces. The organization LACSO, a
consulting group working on social issues, has carried out a
statistical analysis of the situation, based on interviews of
several thousand people nationwide, with a special focus in 4
of the most important cities. The initial results
demonstrate that the situation is worse than presented by the
BRV, and is one of the worst in the continent.


6. (C) Prison Situation: The prisons in Venezuela are
notoriously violent. In 2006 over 400 inmates were killed
and another 900 injured in prison violence, largely in prison
riots or fighting for power between inmates. This is by far
the most violent prison system in the hemisphere, and one of
the worst in the world (based on number of murders, strikes,
hostage taking of family members, and other indicators). The
Venezuelan Prison Observatory has taken the responsibility to
document the violence and general conditions in the prisons,
and to advocate nationally and internationally for improving
the situation.


7. (C) Media Self-Censorship: Through the NGO Instituto
Prensa y Sociedad, this observation effort will identify the
level of self-censorship in the Venezuelan press due to
judicial threats of closure, violence, fines and other
threats. The largest advertiser in the country is the BRV,
and many smaller newspapers and stations rely on this
advertising to stay afloat. The BRV is using this economic
lever to put pressure on the editorial line of the press.
This study will be increasingly interesting in analyzing the
effect of the closure of RCTV upon other media outlets.


8. (C) Harassment of Journalists: In partnership with the
NGO Espacio Publico, a study is being done on threats to
journalists. These threats include violence, telephone
threats, as well as judicial threats and actions such as
accusing journalists of defamation or other criminal acts.
Initial indicators are that the harassment of journalists is
increasing.


9. (C) Women's Political Rights: The NGO CISFEM is
carrying out a study of the political situation of women in
the country. Historically, women have not voted in the same
numbers as men, nor have they held public office or carried
out other public activity, likely due to the dominance of the
men in this "machista" society. Chavez has promised to
change this. This observation effort will qualitatively and
quantitatively analyze the role of women in government and
political life, as well as abuses of their civil and
political rights.


10. (C) Human Rights: COFAVIC is one of Venezuela's most
important human rights organizations. It has received a
grant to continue to document and report on the deteriorating
situation of human rights in the country. They will be
training regional partners to produce a report regarding the
violation of civil and political liberties by BRV security
forces, mainly focusing on extrajudicial killings.


11. (C) Situation of Micro-Entrepreneurs: Over 50% of
Venezuela's working population labors in the informal sector,
scraping out a living selling illegally imported clothing,
pirated CDs and other items in makeshift booths on the
streets. This project, carried out by the NGO CESAP, will
focus on better understanding the way they live and work and

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the nature of their relationships and interaction with the
BRV through BRV sponsored micro-credit programs and
cooperatives.

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Comment
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12. (C) The Bolivarian "Revolution" is nourished by
misinformation, lies and manipulations. The state controlled
media apparatus works tirelessly to confuse, pollute and
distort the view of reality in Venezuela, which keeps
Venezuelans and the international community off balance and
confused. This project seeks to shine a flashlight into the
dark corners of the revolution, to collect and document
information and make it public, domestically and
internationally. This will help deconstruct some of the
mythology around Chavez and his revolution, and demonstrate
that the lives of the Venezuelans really aren't better, no
matter how much lip service is paid to their cause. It will
also serve to document important abuses so that, at the
appropriate moment, information will be available to judge
the BRV accordingly. Finally, this project is supporting
nine important civil society organizations that are
authentically independent, and from our perspective are a ray
of hope in the increasingly radicalized atmosphere here.


13. (C) This assistance effort will have to be terminated
this year should no further funding materialize. In that
event, important observations planned for 2007-2008, such as
a study on political discrimination in Venezuela by use of
the famous "Maisanta List" database of those who signed the
recall referendum, and documentation of grass roots level
purges of non-party members from "communal councils", will
have to be abbreviated.
BROWNFIELD