VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT TARGETS CRITICS OF PRESIDENT CHAVEZ

Amnesty International has urged Venezuelan authorities to stop targeting government critics following a series of politically motivated arrests.

At least three individuals seen as opposed to President Hugo Chavez were arrested and charged in March alone.

"Charges brought for political reasons against critics are being used to silence dissent and prevent others from speaking out," said Guadalupe Marengo, Americas deputy director at Amnesty International. "President Chavez must stop persecuting those who think differently or speak out against the government."

Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, former governor of the state of Zulia, was arrested on March 22, after he said in an interview that Venezuela had become a haven for drug trafficking and citing accusations by a Spanish court that the government supports armed opposition groups. He is currently being held in the Heleraido, headquarters of the national intelligence service.

Wilmer Azuaje, parliamentary deputy and a critic of President Chavez, was arrested on March 25. He was accused of reportedly insulting and hitting a woman police officer. He has since been released but faces prosecution.

Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of television station Globavision, was arrested on March 25 and charged with disseminating false information and insulting the President in statements that he made during a recent Inter American Press Association meeting in Aruba. He has since been released but faces prosecution.

In December 2009, Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was arrested and charged with complicity in the escape of a former banker because she ordered his release.

Richard Blanco, a member of an opposition party, was arrested in August 2009 and charged with inciting and injuring a police officer during a demonstration.

The evidence against Blanco is based on video footage from the demonstration. Amnesty International has found no evidence in these videos of Blanco inciting violence or injuring a police officer.

Over recent years, the Venezuelan government appears to have established a pattern of clamping down on dissent through the use of legislative and administrative methods to silence and harass critics.

Laws are being used to justify what essentially seems to be politically motivated charges, which would indicate that the Venezuelan governmnet is deliberately targeting opponents, Amnesty International asserts.

The Inter American Commission on Human Rights has stated that the arrest of Zuloaga "evidences the lack of independence of the judiciary and the utilization of the criminal justice system to punish criticism, producing an intimidating effect that extends to all of society."

Following the detention of Judge Lourdes Afiuni, United Nations experts said, "Reprisals for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed function and creating a climate of fear among the judiciary and lawyers' profession serve no purpose except to undermine the rule of law and obstruct justice."

In January, after RCTV and other television channels were suspended from broadcasting, the European Parliament stated, "The National Telecommunications Commission should show itself to be independent of political and economic authorities and ensure equitable pluralism."