During this year, the Commission has continued to receive information on grave attacks on the work of human rights defenders in Venezuela. It has continued to monitor situations of criminalization and judicial harassment, such as the opening of criminal and administrative investigations into human rights defenders,349 limits on access to international funding for human rights defender organizations,350and harassment and defamation at the hands of authorities, as described hereinafter.351
In January, it was reported that Héctor Sánchez Losada had been murdered. Sánchez Losada had been a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Federation of Bar Associations in the state of Monagas, created under a project led by the OVP in 20 states in Venezuela. He was killed by two unidentified individuals in the city of Maturín, Monagas state.352
The Commission is also concerned at the various defamation campaigns launched by the authorities against human rights defenders. It notes that through a number of different media outlets, the authorities have continued to describe the actions of civil society organizations and human rights defender organizations as crimes of “betraying the Fatherland” or “destabilization.”353Through these campaigns, the government has issued statements assailing the work of human rights defenders, repeating accusations on their alleged intentions to attack democracy. For example, during his weekly state TV program “Con el Mazo Dando,” former National Assembly president and current deputy Diosdado Cabello has stated multiple times that the participation of human rights organizations in public hearings before the IACHR or the UN Committee were intended deliberately to destabilize the government.354 For example, in June, Deputy Cabello called the director of the OVCS, Marco Antonio Ponce, a “traitor” because he was going to participate in the 47th Ordinary Period of Sessions of the General Assembly of the OAS. Mr. Cabello then gave information on the flight Mr. Ponce would be taking, including his seat number on the plane.355
In May, State newspaper Ciudad CCS published an article entitled “International Patrons of NGO Criollas Revealed,” with pictures of Rafael Uzcatégui, a human rights defender with PROVEA; Rocío San Miguel, with Control Ciudadano; and Marco Ponce, with OVCS. The article stated that these organizations “are nothing more than instruments of United States foreign policy” and “façades for receiving foreign financing. They have been set up as “grass roots” organizations to challenge national sovereignty, as many of them are no more than channels for distributing logistical and financial resources.”356 Likewise, another article published on the website “Con el Mazo Dando” suggested that staff with OVCS, FPV, PROVEA, and other civil society organizations were agents of the political opposition and responsible for inciting violence through “guarimbas” (blockades).357
Frontline Defenders reported in October that Deputy Cabello reported on his TV program and his website that OVP Director Humberto Prado Sifontes receives financing from the National Endowment for Democracy, “some of which he steals to deposit in a company he supposedly has registered in Panama under the name of his wife.” The group indicated that the article also states that this “imaginary company” deals in arms trafficking. It noted that these false statements are aimed at discrediting the human rights defender and generating hostility toward him.358
As the Commission has indicated in its press release (see supra III(B)(iii), decree 2,323 enables the suspension of financing agreements struck with foreign entities “when it is presumed used for political purposes or to destabilize the Republic.”359 In this regard, the Commission has held that “human rights defenders have the right to seek and obtain economic resources to finance their work. States must guarantee the exercise of this right in the broadest possible manner, and promote it.”360 The IACHR reiterates that civil society organizations may legitimately receive funds from foreign or international NGOs or from foreign governments to promote human rights, and that the State is required to guarantee their establishment and operations without imposing restrictions beyond those permitted under the right to freedom of association.361
For its part, HRW stated that the imprecise language used in the aforementioned decree seems designed to stifle the ability of independent civil society organizations to operate effectively without fear of retaliation.362
For its part, the State noted that during the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations, it “recognized the work that human rights defenders do and described in the measures implemented domestically to continue promoting the work that they do."363
Based on this, it is observed that human rights defenders continue to face serious obstacles to doing their work. The Commission reiterates that harassment of and attacks on human rights defenders not only impact their own rights as guaranteed to all humans, but also threaten the fundamental role these defenders play in society and render defenseless everyone on whose behalf they work. The Commission also recalls that the work of human rights defenders is essential for building a democratic and lasting society. They play a leading role in the process of fully realizing the rule of law and the strengthening of democracy.364
