Written declaration No. 454 | Doc. 12380 | 02 October 2010

Situation in Venezuela

Signatories: Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Pedro AGRAMUNT, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Andris BĒRZINŠ, Latvia, ALDE ; Mr Agustín CONDE, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Nikolaos DENDIAS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Renato FARINA, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr John GREENWAY, United Kingdom ; Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Françoise HOSTALIER, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Sinikka HURSKAINEN, Finland, SOC ; Mr Theo MAISSEN, Switzerland, EPP/CD ; Mr José MENDES BOTA, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Alejandro MUÑOZ-ALONSO, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Aleksandar NIKOLOSKI, ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'', EPP/CD ; Mr Kent OLSSON, Sweden ; Mr Christos POURGOURIDES, Cyprus, EPP/CD ; Ms Carmen QUINTANILLA, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Giuseppe SARO, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Kimmo SASI, Finland, EPP/CD ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Luigi VITALI, Italy, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

Recalling the written declarations no. 396 (Doc. 11291) and 417 (Doc. 11737 ) and the motion for a recommendation (Doc. 11849) on Venezuela, tabled by members of the Assembly, we note with regret that the situation in Venezuela has been further aggravated by :

• the continuing arrest of personalities such as Judge Maria Afiuni, for passing unfavourable sentences;
• the arbitrary detention of political leaders like Alejandro Peña Esclusa, President of UnoAmerica, persecuted because he denounced relations between the government and extremist institutions;
• the arrest of Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, former President of the Venezuelan Parliament, former Presidential candidate, because of his condemnation, during a television interview, of relations with drug traffickers;
• the military judgment against former General Antonio Rivero in retaliation for his condemnation of the presence of Cuban nationals in strategic military posts;
• the death on 30 August of farmer Franklin Brito on hunger strike following his confinement to a Military Hospital.

This clearly demonstrates the criminalisation of dissident opinion and the use of the judiciary as a weapon for intolerance.

We call on the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to respect and uphold the rule of law, freedom of expression, freedom of opinion, the conventions on human rights and democracy.