The Devil's Excrement

Your Majesty                                                          Oct. 14th. 2002

King of Norway

Oslo, Norway

Your Highness

As a Venezuelan I can’t help but be appalled at the news that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be officially received by you and your Government. I am not sure what type of advice or intelligence your Government has received, but the Chavez Government has consistently violated the human rights of its people during the last three years. Only last week, active military officers had their rights violated by attempts to arrest them without any regards to due process or the Constitution.

Separately, Hugo Chavez, his Vice-President and members of his Cabinet have been accused of crimes against humanity in front of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, unfortunately the Court remains under his controls, despite which the Court has said that there is evidence and has asked the Attorney General to investigate the case further. Unfortunately, more than twenty suits against the President have yet to be processed by the Attorney General’s office.

This weekend Hugo Chavez boasted that he was ready to cut off all TV transmissions during last Thursday’ opposition march accusing them of faking the images which showed over 1.2 million people attended. And they attended despite the many threats of violence by the President himself and some of his supporters. The threats by Hugo Chavez are not new, the OAS has already issued precautionary measures to protect the rights of many reporters. None of these have been implemented by the Chavez administration.

As I said at the beginning, I am appalled and surprised that a Government from a country that has such a tradition of defending and promoting not only democracy but also the sanctity of human rights would welcome our President as a friendly Head of State. While Hugo Chavez was elected democratically, he has proven and shown at each step that he is not. His constant violation of the Constitution, abuse of the media and absolute disregard for those that disagree with him make him a threat to all Venezuelans and a shame on the international community that supports his ability to repress and abuse.

Respectfully Yours

Miguel Octavio

This entry was posted on October 14, 2002 at 8:28 am and is filed under Venezuela.