Human Rights Watch Condemns Chávez's Decade in Power

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, has flouted human rights, persecuted opponents and undermined democracy during his decade in power, according to a damning new report. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based watchdog, yesterday accused him of betraying a pledge to shore up the rule of law and turn Venezuela into a progressive beacon.

It claimed his government had taken over the courts and cowed the media, trade unions and civil society, leaving the South American oil giant dominated by an over-mighty executive. "Discrimination on political grounds has been a defining feature of the Chávez presidency, [as] has been an open disregard for the principle of separation of powers," it said.

The Washington-based Venezuela Information Office, which promotes the Chávez government's view, said Human Rights Watch was biased. "Their reports on Venezuela have typically been politicized. They don't highlight real advances," said Olivia Goumbri, a spokeswoman. Lavish spending of oil revenues on social programs, for instance, had boosted human rights by reducing poverty and illiteracy, she said.

Human Rights Watch said Venezuela's worst setback in the past decade was a 2002 coup which briefly replaced Chávez, an anti-democratic putsch backed by George Bush's administration. "Fortunately it lasted only two days. Unfortunately the Chávez government has exploited it ever since to justify policies that have degraded the country's democracy," said José Miguel Vivanco, the advocacy group's Americas director.

The 230-page report, A Decade Under Chávez, accused the government of sacrificing basic guarantees enshrined in a 1999 constitution - which Chávez had championed - to further its political agenda.

It had "neutralised the judiciary" by packing the supreme court with allies, and undermined freedom of expression by toughening penalties for criminal defamation and bullying private media into softening criticism. Opponents had been blacklisted from state agencies and the national oil company, notably through a database of those who had signed a petition against the president. Trade unions had been emasculated and human rights activists had been harassed.

Steve Ellner, a professor at Venezuela's University of the East, said Human Rights Watch overlooked the opposition's role in polarizing Venezuela, not least by refusing to accept Chávez's legitimacy and electoral mandates.

"The report is exaggerated. It fails to place events in their context," he said.