Prominent members of the international community are expressing concern about Venezuela’s imprisonment of opposition leaders, civil society activists, and students who protest against the country’s political leadership. In January, former Latin American presidents Felipe Calderon (Mexico), Andres Pastrana (Colombia), and Sebastian Piñera (Chile) traveled to Venezuela in an attempt to visit jailed political opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez (they were denied access). Last month, under the auspices of the Club de Madrid, these three were joined by several other ex-presidents in signing an open letter to the Venezuelan government urging the release of all political prisoners. Many members of this group have joined the prisoners’ legal teams in a symbolic statement of protest against Venezuela’s regime. In a New York Times op-ed, former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to “shed the conspiratorial mind-set and authoritarian instincts he has carried over from the regime of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and accept that true democracy includes dissent.” The outspokenness of Latin America’s ex-presidents on behalf of Venezuela’s political prisoners raises an important question: what are the region’s current presidents doing to defend human rights in Venezuela? –
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