Johannesburg, 5 July 2011. The increasing number of detentions of Venezuelan civil society activists raises troubling unanswered questions about the nation’s democracy and human rights situation, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation said today. In particular, CIVICUS is concerned about the growing number of arrests and detention of unionists for participating in protests and the threats and interrogation on civil society groups by state agents.
To date CIVICUS' partners have documented the arrest of over 2500 people in Venezuela who face criminal charges for participating in public protests, including 125 union activists. Sources have also told CIVICUS of increasing reports of personal threats made towards family members of detained activists by state agents.
The arrests come as recent orders by President Hugo Chavez to investigate civil society organisations (CSOs) receiving international financial assistance have led to 34 local CSOs being placed under examination. In a statement ordering the investigation, President Chavez said that cooperating with international organisations and networks amounted to "treason to the motherland."
"The present government is engaging in a systematic campaign to intimidate human rights defenders. Activists and their families have been threatened by state agents, oftentimes in plain clothes," said Feliciano Reyna, CIVICUS Board member and head of Sinergia in Venezuela.
CIVICUS' concern about Venezuela's widening crackdown on civil society comes a week after concerns were raised about the safety of Venezuelan human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones), and his family following a campaign of intimidation and death threats against him that began in the wake of violent disturbances at El Rodeo Prison in the state of Miranda on 12 June 2011.
Humberto Prado is a prominent defender of prisoners’ human rights who has publicly denounced the appalling conditions in Venezuela’s prisons for many years.
"Derogatory statements against civil society by high ranking officials are often the early signs of an impending crackdown," said Reyna.
In the past 12 months President Chavez has called for a criminal investigation of several human rights organisations, accusing them of receiving funds from the United States government for the purpose of destabilising the Venezuelan government. During the same period, journalist Francisco Perez was stripped of his professional certification, fined $2000 and handed a sentence of 3 years and 9 months for publishing an article on corruption in the local Valencia government.
In December 2010, President Chavez urged the National Assembly to adopt a "severe law" to effectively stop foreign funding for a wide range of NGOs. His statement came as his government backed an International Cooperation Bill, seeking to significantly reinforce executive control over CSOs by creating an Agency for International Cooperation with wide ranging powers to control the receipt and disbursement of international funds. While this bill is yet to be passed, the Law on the Defence of Sovereignty and National Autonomy was adopted in December 2010, with severe restrictions on organisations that defend political rights.
"Many rights activists are now on very high alert as they keep asking the question 'Who will be targeted next?'", said Reyna.
Reyna further reported that Venezuelan civil society groups had been preparing for the country’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council due in October 2011, but with the crackdown by state forces many CSOs were concerned about their ability to represent their concerns in Geneva as well as intimidation thereafter.
CIVICUS urges the Government of Venezuela to create an enabling environment for civil society and to uphold their responsibilities under international law.
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a global movement of civil society dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society across the world. CIVICUS stands in solidarity with the right of all global citizens to assemble, associate and express their views peacefully.
For more information please contact CIVICUS:
Rowena McNaughton (), Media Officer or
David Kode (, Policy Officer
Office Tel: +27 11 833 5959