Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: Death Penalty in Venezuela
Venezuela News And Views
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Death Penalty in Venezuela
The 1999 constitution, retaking something that already existed in previous constitutions (and I stress the plural here, as some people think that before Chavez Venezuela was in the deepest of the dark ages) declared that the death penalty cannot exist (article 43), that the maximum penalty is actually 30 years in jail (article 44). Well, the facts after 6 years of constitution demonstrate that this one, as in so many of its chapters, is just a lie.Today El Universal publishes a damning article on one ofthe most infamous jails of Venezuela, the one from Yare. Yare also used to have a section where political prisoners were held in relatively more lenient conditions. Chavez among other benefited from such conditions after his failed 1992 coup. There he waited for a trial that never came until then president Caldera decided not to prosecute him, in a case that is mistakenly interpreted as a pardon, but which in reality never established the guilt of Chavez for the dozen of deaths in 1992. That juridical limbo is interpreted by many Chavez apologists as a pardon, or even worse, as a fulfillment of a penalty, a rather obscenely low fulfillment, a couple of years in jail for dozens of people killed or murdered.
One would think that once in office Chavez would have done something about Yare. Either destroy it, or humanize it and make it a monument to his past as a pseudo-political victim. But no, like almost everything else in Venezuela, and dramatically in the case of the judicial and penitentiary system, the Chavez administration has been absolutely negligent, establishing along the way an astounding record of human rights violations.
Describing the horrors of what goes inside jails defies words that can be understood outside of Venezuela. El Universal limits itself at describing how gangs of prisoners, benefiting of the presence of only 7 wardens, have established control on all what takes place in Yare, from food supplies to drug traffic, from who sleeps where and when to who dies when and where. A look at the picture below show clearly the run down aspect of the penitentiary, a place not even fit for rats. A place where you might die of typhoid fever while you wait for your trial, if you are not raped and killed first.
Yare, a run down jail, weeds everywhere, dirty and crumbling walls.
But the rate of violent death in Venezuelan jails defies any interpretation. El Universal lists the documented ones since January 2005. Before I give the numbers in the table below, it is essential to point out that the Chavez administration has been administering the jails of Venezuela since February 1999, that is for a full 6 years and a half, a period under which NO SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT CAN BE DETECTED. The table next lists how many people have been murdered in the Venezuelan penitentiary system so far this year. And how many have been injured during fights, attempted murders and the like (not injuries at the workshops or other normal activities, real injuries related to violence). Yare by itself accounts, in spite of all its own horror, for only 12.5% of the total deaths.
To the apologists of the Chavez regime I will remind them that these are the deaths of the poor that Chavez was supposed to help. After almost 7 years of a pro-people regime one would have expected some improvement, no? Please, explain.
As for the uselessly repressive nature of police in Venezuela, the recent editorial of Teodoro Petkoff translated by Miguel says that since Chavez came to office more than 6000 Venezuelans have died in a variety of "confrontations" with the authorities. These "death sentences" do not contemplate the putative innocence of the people shot during those confrontations (look at the recent "Kennedy" case with 3 students just killed as roaches), it does not even consider the right of people to die executed in jail by their cell mates.
I suppose that one way to solve the poverty problem is to kill the poor, and let the poor kill each other.
Written from the Venezuelan provinces, this blog started as private letters to my friends overseas, letters narrating the difficult days of the 2002/2003 strike in Venezuela. These letters became this mix of news, comments, pictures of the Venezuelan situation. Unknowingly, I have written the diary of Venezuela slow descent into authoritarianism, the slow erosion of our liberties, the takeover of the country by a military caste, the surrendering of our soul to our inner demons.
Click logo above to go directly to the English language blog. Click here to go to the Spanish language mirror.
Estamos en Venezuela, nunca se sabe. In spite of its Spanish title, an irregular blog about a French student observing Venezuela. Interesting pictures.
General info and discontinued blogs but with good archives
Venezuela Crisis has a visual and textual record "hors pair" of the recent electoral campaign in Venezuela, the first blogger to have covered live a Venezuelan campaign. Seems to be on a resting phase for a few weeks.
Digital papers with Venezuela and LatAm in mind (in Spanish)
There are two major digital papers with forums and all, for a permanent clash between factions. Noticiero Digital is the oldest one and Noticias 24 is giving it a run for tis money.
And a new comer:Venezuela es noticia.
Ciudadania Activa has a large selection of articles on Venezuelan politics and civil rights issues.
Relevant info to expose some of the regime's propaganda and human rights violations
The lies of April
The famous "infamous" video "The revolution will not be televised" has been duly analyzed and shown to be in large measure a crass manipulation. Counter-video in Spanish here, and summary of main points here.
There is a documentary that follows the April 2002 events from the perspective on what Chavez did that April 11, "La Cadena". It is about the forced broadcast made by Chavez to hide the massacre of the pacific march on Miraflores.
The infamous apartheid like system of the Tascon and Maisanta lists
The compilation of various documents from Miguel.
The video "La Lista" and my reviews in English and Spanish by invitation at Hispalibertas.
The El Nacional review of Perez Oramas.
The original video itself can be seen here.
Diverse Human Rights pages
Of course, from Amnesty International to the Human Rights Watch page, without forgetting local organizations such as prestigious COFAVIC, the Venezuelan government comes only too often lacking in its Human Rights record.
OTHER FOLKS WITH VENEZUELA MORE OR LESS IN THEIR MIND (Please send links that should be added here)
And of course to be fair there must be links to pro-Chavez sites. I do pride myself of having been the first opposition blog to have listed pro Chavez links; a situation that has now changed. However extremely rare is the pro Chavez page or blog that links to any of the sites listed above. The readers might draw their own conclusion
Aporrea (Beat up, bruise! as in the imperative mode of the verb; the only interesting one if you can read Spanish. Predicts the future)
And of course the full time propaganda agencies, ALL at tax payer expenses, the National Radio coverage, RNV, and the rather deficient official news agency, ABN (both in Spanish).
Without forgetting the "official" newsletter in English.
Some blogs, more or less sycophantic.
Yosmary, campaigning for Mario Silva, quite something.
Less sycophantic, even critical on occasion Terreno baldio.
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Map of Venezuela to help you locate the different locales mentioned through the blog (click here for a more detailed map)
For the memories. The picture below dates from the epic days of the December 2002/January 2003 "El Paro", when the opposition was strong and decided, and when Chavez was low in polls.
Then came the "misiones" and the worst populist episode of our history. Through pacific protests and strikes we tried to preserve democracy.
History proved us right even if we lost that battle.
Marching toward Hotel Melia, 01/31/03, 5 PM.
Small yellow square under the Pepsi ball is the big stage.
A special thanks to JoAnne Schmitz for the suggestions and help in setting this blog up.
