Venezuela: HRF declares Oswaldo Álvarez Paz a prisoner of conscience of the Chávez government; Warns about the “chilling effect” of his imprisonment

NEW YORK (April 5, 2010) -- The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) joins numerous prominent individuals and international organizations calling for the immediate release of Oswaldo Álvarez Paz. In a letter sent to President Hugo Chávez, HRF declared Álvarez Paz a prisoner of conscience of his government. Last week, HRF’s chairman, Václav Havel, called for Alvarez Paz’s immediate release. HRF released a legal report on the Álvarez Paz case today, and warned that both the imprisonment of Álvarez Paz and the arrest of Guillermo Zuloaga could have a devastating “chilling effect” on what is left of freedom of expression in that country.

“Álvarez Paz said Venezuela was ruled by a ‘totalitarian regime.’ The Chávez government disagreed so strongly with this that they proved him right by arresting him and keeping him imprisoned,” said Thor Halvorssen, President of HRF. “In Venezuela, you can go to jail for speaking your mind,” Halvorssen stated.

HRF’s report determined that the actions carried out by the Venezuelan authorities in charge of Álvarez Paz’s accusation, detention, and preventive imprisonment, violated the international human rights legal standard on freedom of expression, established by Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, ratified by Venezuela in 1977, and by the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, which Venezuela is bound to follow. HRF announced that it will soon publish a specific legal opinion on the case of Zuloaga, owner of the only remaining private independent television channel in Venezuela.

“If the Venezuelan government can imprison a former presidential candidate and the head of the country’s only independent TV network because their opinions ‘offended’ the president, then what options are left for a college student who wants to protest against the government, or an independent journalist wanting to write a critical investigation?,” asked Javier El-Hage, HRF’s General Counsel. “It seems that Venezuelans have only three options left: prison, exile, or silence,” he concluded.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Václav Havel,Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Javier El-Hage, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org

Read the letter sent to President Chávez here.

Read the report written about Oswaldo Álvarez Paz here.