Venezuela

WHEREAS in Venezuela actions of the government have aggravated the atmosphere of political intolerance and systematic and general violations of human rights, including attacks and serious threats on the life, integrity, personal liberty and freedom of expression of the population and especially journalists and other press workers WHEREAS the Organization of American States, the Carter Center and the United Nations have facilitated the creation of a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral way to solve the acute political, social and governing crisis in Venezuela today and there is a risk that this way could be lost because of obstacles that the government has imposed and continues to impose WHEREAS the government of President Hugo Chávez Frías has threatened once again to apply military and repressive measures against the media and to promote legislation restricting press freedom WHEREAS the Constitutional Division of the Supreme Court issued Ruling No. 1942 upholding the validity of what are known as contempt laws which establish criminal penalties for critics in the press and of government public relations officials and their supervisors in open contradiction with the basic principles of democracy and that it adds to the previous Ruling 1013 which validates general principles of jurisprudence which restrict freedom of press and information in Venezuela WHEREAS Principle 2 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “Every person has the right to seek and receive information, express opinions and disseminate them freely. No one may restrict or deny these rights” WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to energetically condemn the government’s policies put into practice to progressively restrict freedom of expression and press in Venezuela to express its dismay over the massive and systematic violations of the rights to life, integrity and personal liberty that Venezuelans, and especially journalists and other press workers, suffer to demand that the Venezuelan government end such practices and acts which contradict the most elemental principles of democratic life and respect for human dignity to express its desire that the Organization of American Status, the Carter Center and the United Nations continue to contribute to the effective achievement of a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution to the Venezuela crisis to send a copy of the report on Venezuela and this resolution to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, asking for their recognition and declaration about the facts in them.