You know I am no friend of the Carter Center after its action in Venezuela in the 2004 recall vote, but you have to love this press release issued by the Carter Center entitled “Declaration of the Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter on the Venezuelan Decision Regrading the Ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”. The declaration is signed, among many others by Cesar Gaviria, Jorge Castaneda, Andres Pastrana, Sergio Ramirez, Alejandro Toledo and Jimmy Carter. The bold face on the part about the military Courts of Fujimori is mine. Can it be clearer than this?:
“We, the undersigned, regret the announcement of the Venezuelan Supreme Court that it will not be feasible to comply with the decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Leopoldo Lopez vs. Venezuela issued on September 1, 2011. The Inter-American Court together with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights constitute a human rights system that serves as a model for the world. Based in the American Convention on Human Rights, the system is an achievement of Latin American and Caribbean states (neither Canada nor the United States have ratified) that should be jealously protected by all.
We note with concern that to our knowledge, with the exception of the military courts rulings during the Fujimori regime, this is the only country in the hemisphere where the merits rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have been rejected by the Supreme Court in expressly declaring them non-binding and unenforceable.
The failure to comply with the findings of the Court by a signatory state under the jurisdiction of the Court, and departing from its international obligations as dictated by the American Convention, threatens not only the Court itself but also the collective defense of human rights in the hemisphere.”