In the run-up to the Venezuelan legislative elections on December 6th, 157 legislators from the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru sent a joint letter to President Nicolas Maduro.
Ecuador and Venezuela on the UN Human Rights Council? The UN General Assembly just voted Ecuador to the organization’s human rights body and renewed Venezuela’s mandate—two countries that have some of the worst human rights records in the Western Hemisphere.
Last week, Human Rights Watch, along with 36 other human rights organizations, issued a statement that Venezuela did not deserve to be re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council. This week, unfortunately, the UN General Assembly did just that. Here’s why the human rights groups were right.
UNASUR’s statement that it would not question the judicial decisions of its member states over the recent sentencing of Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was as predictable as it was troubling. It’s a perfect example of how the region has regressed, with little respect for its troubled past and a warning of things to come.
Spotting evidence of the destruction that Venezuela’s politicians have inflicted on the economy isn’t terribly hard. In fact, you start to see it as soon
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and Rafael Correa exhibit none of the characteristics of the modern, progressive left—such as, support for indigenous communities’ land rights or LGBT rights—so why are they still called leftists? Because they say so.
Several months ago, former presidents Óscar Arias, Felipe Calderón, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Alejandro Toledo, and Ernesto Zedillo signed an open letter to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expressing their concern over the deteriorating human rights conditions in the country and political prisoners such as former Mayor of Chacao Leopoldo López. Here is their letter—though little has changed since they signed it.
Poverty without the violence and economic chaos of Venezuela? CaracasChronicles.com founder Francisco Toro reflects on the different meanings of poverty, inequality, decay, and civility on a stroll through the streets of Kampala’s slums.
The new OAS Secretary General’s swearing-in speech should give us hope, not just because he talked about the OAS’s role in defending human rights and electoral transparency and inclusiveness, but also because of who he is and Uruguay’s principled position in the hemisphere. His first test will be the Venezuelan legislative elections.
Conspiracy theories are a standard way for populists to distract citizens and stoke up their base. But the governments in Argentina, Ecuador and—particularly—Venezuela have turned it into a real art form.
