NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO SELECT NEW OMBUDSMAN,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 002269 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV VE SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO SELECT NEW OMBUDSMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL, COMPTROLLER REF: 06 CARACAS 02275 CARACAS 00002269 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT R. DOWNES FOR REASON 1.4 (D) ¶1. (C) Summary. The National Assembly (NA) is expected to name a new Human Rights Ombudsman, Attorney General, and Comptroller in the coming weeks. Together these positions make up the "Public Power" branch of government, also known as the Moral Republican Council (CMR). The CMR's Candidate Evaluation Committee (Committee) presented three candidates for each position to the NA for consideration on November 27. NA deputies must select one candidate per position for a seven-year term. The selection of these three high level positions is being overshadowed by the upcoming December 2 referendum. Human rights organizations have accused the Committee of irregularities and of marginalizing their participation in the nomination process. The selection of politically loyal, and potentially underqualified, candidates could make it increasingly difficult for human rights organizations to mount legal cases against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (BRV). End Summary. -------------- The Selection Process -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In the coming weeks the National Assembly (NA) is expected to name new members to the "Public Power" branch of government, also known as the Moral Republican Council (CMR). The CMR is composed of the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Attorney General, and the Comptroller, each of which is selected for a seven-year term. Currently, German Mundarain serves as the Human Rights Ombudsman, Isaias Rodriguez as the Attorney General, and Clobosbaldo Russian as the Comptroller. Their tenure expires in late December. The CMR's Candidate Selection Committee (Committee) presented the names of three candidates for each position to the NA on November 27. The NA now has 30 days to make its selections. The selection process for these three important positions is being overshadowed by the upcoming December 2 referendum on President Chavez' sweeping changes to the constitution. (Note: The Constitution of 1999 created a Comptroller and a Human Rights Ombudsman. These officials along with the Attorney General were grouped together to form the CMR. End Note). �A; ¶3. (SBU) The Venezuelan Constitution and the Organic Law for "Public Power" outline the selection procedures for aspiring candidates to the CMR. First, CMR members convoke the Committee, which should be composed of no more than twenty-five members from civil society. Second, the Committee issues a call for resumes, after which it reviews and vets all candidates. Third, it submits three candidates for each position to the NA for consideration. Lastly, NA deputies deliberate and designate the officials. -------------- The Candidates -------------- ¶4. (SBU) According to the CMR's website, 124 candidates applied for the three positions. The candidates on the short list for the position of Ombudsman include: Yadira Vargas, Edwin Sambrano Vidal, and Gabriela Ramirez. Vargas appears to be this group's front-runner. She is currently the director of outreach for the Ombudsman's human rights campaign. Sambrano, a former NA deputy elected from Chavez' former party, the Fifth Republic Movement, is also considered a favorite. Ramirez is a NA deputy and president the NA's Committee on Families, Women, and Youth. ¶5. (C) It was widely speculated that German Saltron, Venezuela's representative to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) of the OAS, would be the BRV favorite in this group, but he did not make the final cut. Local NGOs believed Saltron's nomination would serve as a reward for his outspoken defense of the BRV's human rights record. In a July IAHRC session to discuss human rights in Venezuela, Saltron refused to reach an "amicable agreement" between human rights organizations and the BRV. At a similar session in March, he accused the IAHRC of being "biased," and of only taking into account the arguments presented by groups opposed to the government. ¶6. (SBU) Attorney General Rodriguez announced several weeks CARACAS 00002269 002.2 OF 002 ago that he would not seek re-election. The candidates vying for his slot include: Luis Ortega Diaz, Carmelo Borrego, and Juan Luis Ibarra Verenzuela. Borrego is a criminologist, while Ibarra serves as a judge on the Aragua state Appeals Court. Ortega currently works as a public prosecutor at the Attorney General's office. ¶7. (SBU) Current Comptroller Russian is running for a second term, and it is widely believed the NA will renew his mandate. The two other candidates include Jose Martinez Ortiz and Digna America Luna. Luna works in the Lara state government's Office of Management. -------------- NA Picking Favorites -------------- ¶8. (C) The selection of the CMR's membership is a relatively new exercise given the manner in which its current members were chosen in 2000 (Reftel). In order to secure that persons loyal to the "revolution" would sit on the CMR, Chavez' former mentor Luis Miquilena bypassed the lengthy and onerous selection process established in the Constitution, effectively allowing the provisional legislature to appoint all the CMR positions. Chavez' then-Vice President Isaias Rodriguez became Attorney General. Miquilena's lawyer, who had no human rights experience, was chosen to replace the interim Ombudsman. This time around the NA is 100 percent pro-Chavez. It is likely that deputies will nominate persons they believe to be most loyal to the "revolution." -------------- NGOs Contest Process -------------- ¶9. (C) Human rights organizations have accused the Committee of irregularities and of marginalizing their participation throughout the selection process. Monica Fernandez, director of the judicial NGO Foro Penal, recently told Poloff that none of her organization's members, or those of other opposition-minded NGOs, were chosen to sit on the Committee despite their expertise in the area of human rights. VIVE, a victims' of state-sponsored violence advocacy organization, and Foro Penal accused the CMR of not ensuring "that diverse sectors of civil society are represented in the Committee," as is stipulated by law. Instead, the Committee was solely made up of persons who were affiliated with pro-government organizations. In addition, NGOs argued that none of the candidates they presented for CMR positions made the final cut. Foro Penal member and lawyer Alfredo Mendoza Romero, for example, ran unsuccessfully for the Human Rights Ombudsman position. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) The selection process for a new Human Rights Ombudsman, Attorney General, and Comptroller is a source of frustration and concern for local human rights NGOs. Mundarain, Rodriguez, and Russian have generally espoused an antagonistic attitude towards human rights groups, and the absence of a working relationship, even at the technical level, has greatly complicated their advocacy work. While Venezuelan NGOs have been particularly successful in exposing BRV human rights violations via the Inter-American system, the selection of politically loyal, but potentially unqualified, candidates could make it even more difficult for victims of state-sponsored abuses or human rights organizations to mount legal cases against the BRV. DUDDY