Provea gets the John Humphrey Award

At a time where democracy is basically gone from Venezuela it is good to notice that people outside are watching.

Provea is perhaps the most noted human rights group inside Venezuela (with COFAVIC I would add).  Its long trajectory has been dedicated to defend human rights inside Venezuela, way before Chavez was elected president (its first report on Venezuela is from 1996, 3 years before Chavez became president).  It goes without saying that if at first chavismo and Provea were not incompatible soon they parted ways and Provea has been one major critic of chavismo Human Rights record.  See, regarding chavismo the problem with Provea is that this one considers Human Rights being for all and not for a given group, preferably supporting Chavez.  Conflict was thus inevitable as it has been the case with probably any single independent Human Rights group inside or outside Venezuela, all the way up to the IAHRC where chavismo is losing on any case that makes it there to the top.

Thus in this time of trouble at home we must be delighted that Provea is getting the major Canadian award, the John Humphrey Prize, awarded by the Rights and Democracy organization created by Canadian Parliament as a non partisan group to monitor Human Rights worldwide.  The name of the award is well chosen since John Humphrey is nothing else but the main writer of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The award includes 25,000 dollars cash prize.  It is a very appropriate coincidence because it will thus be the first test case of the new repressive law about to be voted in the Venezuelan parliament which seeks to control and even forbid any foreign funding to NGO,  which of course does not stop Chavez to fund any wacko group he feels like funding.  But as Provea has been one of the main exponents, chavismo basks in double standards.