Venezuela January 28, 2009

 

 

H.E. Hugo Chávez
President
Office of the President
Palacio de Miraflores Ave. Urdaneta
Caracas
Republic of Venezuela
Fax: (011.58.2) 21.162

Your Excellency: The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) must add its voice to those of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and other media rights groups to protest a continuing pattern of press freedom violations in Venezuela, most recently and seriously, the assassination of Orel Sambrano, editor of the political weekly, “ABC” in Valencia, Carabobo, on January 16.

Sambrano, according to the Institute for Press and Society (IPYS), recently covered drug trafficking n Venezuela, including a case involving the region’s influential Makled family. He was also vice president of the privately owned radio station, Radio America, a columnist for the regional daily, “Notitarde,” and an attorney.

Sambrano was shot to death by two men on a motorbike as he stepped from his car. The incident followed by just three days the attempted murder of Rafael Finol, an avowed supporter of yours at the privately owned “El Regional” in Acarigua, southwestern Venezuela. “I knew this would happen after the recent interview I had with President Chavez,” Finol said afterwards, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). “It was the work of the extreme right, who want to kill me.”

But your own followers also have been accused of undermining press freedom in Venezuela. On January 20, according to IPYS, Cecilia Rodriguez, a photo-journalist for the “El Nuevo Pais” newspaper, was assaulted in Plaza Morelos, Caracas, while covering a rally by the pro-government party, Venezuela Popular Unity (UPV), to support the constitutional amendment that would allow for re-election of Venezuela’s president and other officials on an indefinite basis.

Rodriguez told IPYS that she was taking pictures when a dozen Chavez supporters wearing vests with the UPV logo surrounded her, grabbed her press card, struck her in the face and searched her purse. According to IPYS, Metropolitan Police, National Guard officers and officials from the Ombudsman’s Office were present but failed to punish any of those involved in the assault.

A day earlier, IPYS reports, Globovision television journalist, Beatriz Adrian, said she had been threatened by UPV leader, Lina Ron, after a press conference with Caracas Mayor Jorge Rodriguez, a member of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to support the constitutional amendment for indefinite re-elections. Adrian told IPYS that Ron warned her: “don’t meddle with Cilia anymore or you’ll see what happens.” The reference was to National Assembly President Cilia Flores, about whose interference with legitimate journalistic coverage Flores and other journalists recently have complained.

We note, too, IFJ’s report of the January 1 killing of one young graphic reporter, Jacinto Lopez, and the injury of another, Ricardo Marapacuto, in Barquisimeto, Lara. IFJ blames recent attacks against the media on the attitude of law enforcement authorities and their failure to act against violent groups allegedly associated with government sectors that publicly target journalists and communications professionals. CPJ is calling for a swift and through investigation, especially in the current political climate preceding the constitutional referendum.

OPC wholeheartedly endorses that call and reminds you that the referendum and the campaign leading up to it have focused the world’s attention on your country, as well as the sincerity of your commitment to democracy and to the press freedom that is essential to it.

Respectfully yours,    
David M. Alpern
Larry Martz
Freedom of the Press Committee  

cc:

Hon. Isaías Rodríguez Díaz
Attorney General
Edificio sede del Ministerio Público
Caracas
Republic of Venezuela
Fax: (011.58.212) 509.8080

Ms. Melba Jimenez
Inter-American Press Association
1801 S.W. Third Avenue
Miami, FL 33129
Fax: (305) 635.2272

Mr. Sean Penn
Creative Artists Agency
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Fax: (424) 288.2900

H.E. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera
Ambassador of Venezuela to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Venezuela
1099 30th Street, NW (Or:  P.O. Box 62291)
Washington, DC  20007
Fax: (202) 342.6820

Sr. William Lara
Ministro de Comunicaciones e Informacion
Av. Universidad, Esq. “El Chorro”
(Torre MCT, piso 10)
Caracas
Republic of Venezuela

Ambassador Fermin Toro Jimenez
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations
335 East 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 557.3528

H.E. William Brownfield
U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela
Embassy of the United States of America
Caracas 1060-A
Venezuela
Fax: (011.58.2) 975.6710

Amio Gauldo
Director
RCTV Internacional
4380 NW 128 Street
Miami, Fl 33054
Fax: (305) 685.5697

Sr. Tannous F. Gerges
Presidente
Reporte de la Economa
tannousfgerges@yahoo.com

Sr. Marcel Garnier
President
RCTV
Dolores a Puente Soublette
Edificio RCTV
Quinta Crespo, Caracas Venezuela