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:
For those of us concerned with freedom of the press, as the Overseas Press Club of America has been for seventy years, the news from Venezuela in the month of August was alarming. Your government appears determined to prevent critics from expressing themselves, and even to crush any form of media that does not reflect the government’s priorities.
Over the years, we have watched your government take one step after another to repress Venezuela’s once-thriving free press, most notably when you took RCTV, Venezuela’s oldest TV station, off the air in 2007 and awarded its channels to a public TV station. Now, apparently it is going to be the turn of Globovision to be shut down. It has so far been the target of five “administrative proceedings.” In early August, a gang of some thirty extreme left-wing activists on motorcycles stormed the Globovision offices and released tear gas. It was encouraging to hear that the accused leader of the assault has been arrested.
At the beginning of August, your government abruptly shut down thirty four radio stations without prior warning. They were said to have failed to keep their paperwork up to date with the Ministry for Public Works and Housing. The ministry had previously said that a total of two hundred forty Venezuelan radio stations were in jeopardy of losing their licenses.
We note that your government is also moving on the legislative front. A bill proposed by Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz called for prison sentences of two to four years for journalists who commit “press crimes” such as reporting in a manner threatening “the stability of state institutions, mental health or public ethics,” among other things. Fortunately, that bill died. However, the National Assembly has just approved a new “law on education” that would have much the same effect. As we understand, the new bill does not establish jail terms for “press crimes,” but it does allow the government to shut down media for the same offenses.
Ironically, while the Assembly was debating the new education law, militants outside the building attacked two groups of journalists who were protesting the law. One group of attackers was armed with sticks and blunt instruments. At least twelve reporters were injured.
We acknowledge that you condemned these attacks. Your government, however, with its threats and actions, has created an atmosphere in which journalists can not report honestly and impartially without fearing the consequences, an atmosphere in which your supporters feel free to attack journalists physically.
We are heartened to see some room still remaining for free expression in Venezuela, especially among the country’s daily newspapers. But how long will that last? The events of August make us fearful that it will not last long.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Amio Gauldo
Director
RCTV Internacional
4380 N.W. 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
Hon. Isaías Rodríguez Díaz
Attorney General
Edificio sede del Ministerio Público
Caracas
Republic of Venezuela
Fax: (011.58.212) 509.8080
Sr. William Lara Ministro de Comunicaciones e Informacion
Av. Universidad, Esq. “El Chorro”
Torre MCT, piso 10
Caracas
Republic of Venezuela
H.E. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera
Ambassador of Venezuela to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Venezuela
1099 Thirtieth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: (202) 342.6820
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
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
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