Chavez and Maduro's Trashing the Rule of Law: The Judge and the Attorney General

The Chavez regime slandered, imprisoned, raped and tortured a Judge. Now the Attorney General who participated in the attempted coverup faces the same dangers for her dissent.
 

Judge María Lourdes Afiuni and Attorney General Luisa Marvelia Ortega Día

The international media is finally describing Venezuela's government for what it is: a brutal dictatorship. Mercosur booted Venezuela out  But Venezuela has been a dictatorship for some time and the dismantling of democratic institutions was already far advances in 2009.  Venezuela was suspended from MERCOSUR on August 5, 2017 after the breakdown of the democratic order and non-compliance with the protocol of Ushuaia. Nevertheless the end of any semblance of an independent judiciary was seen in Venezuela eight years ago.

Judge María Lourdes Afiuni ruled that a near three year pretrial detention ran afoul of the two year limit prescribed in Venezuelan law and authorized the conditional liberty of Eligio Cedeño, a banker accused of corruption on December 10, 2009.  The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions had already declared Cedeño's detention arbitrary. The judge was detained that same day, ironically on human rights day, and jailed. 

The next day President Hugo Chávez called the Judge a "bandit"who should be jailed for thirty years. Days later Chávez reaffirmed that Judge Afiuni was "correctly jailed" and advocated that she be sentenced to 35 years in prison. She was charged by prosecutors in January of 2010 with "corruption, abuse of authority, and “favoring evasion of justice.” Prosecutors provided no credible evidence to substantiate the charges." She was held for over a year in prison during which "Judge Afiuni was raped and suffered physical and psychological violence, including death threats from other inmates." She was then transferred to house arrest. In June of 2013, Judge Afiuni was released on bail, while her trial, which began in 2012, continued. In 2013 her house arrest was lifted as she began a battle against cancer. Chavez died on March 5, 2013 but the trial against the judge began to suffer delays, which apparently violate Venezuelan law continuing to the present day.  Judge Afiuni is barred from practicing law, leaving the country, or using her bank account or social networks. 
  
Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz entered the controversy on this case denying that the Judge Afiuni had been sexually assaulted, tortured and mistreated by agents of the Chavez regime. This whitewash provoked a response from the Judge. According to Afiuni's Attorney Thelma Fernández on June 30, 2015  Judge María Lourdes Afiuni broke her silence explaining to the court "how the INOF guards and officials of the Ministry of Justice sexually abused her and destroyed her vagina, anus and bladder." ... "The evidence of ill treatment, torture and sexual abuse against Afiuni is contained in the case file and at the United Nations; for this reason, experts, rapporteurs and commissioners of international organizations have issued so many statements in relation to the case. It is not that they are biased, as hinted and said by Luisa Ortega Díaz. It is just that all the evidence confirms all that happened to the judge."

The situation has deteriorated even further under Nicolas Maduro to the point that Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz who had been the Attorney General of Venezuela from December 13, 2007 until August 5, 2017 would not grant a blank check for the Venezuelan regime's outlaw behavior.  Now she is facing the same dangers as Judge Afiuni. On June 29, 2017 Maduro's rubber stamp Supreme Court froze her assets and barred her from leaving the country due to "alleged serious misconduct." Attorney General Ortega. Hours earlier according to a June 29, 2017 Voice of America article: she charged the Maduro regime with "state terrorism" and promised to "defend the constitution and democracy even with my life, I swear." She had also been critical of Maduro's constituent assembly and the irregularities surrounding the vote that brought into existence. The new assembly on August 5, 2017 removed her from office even though her term was supposed to last until 2021. 

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a precautionary measure for Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz on August 3, 2017 citing their concern "that Ms. Luisa Ortega Díaz and her family are in a serious and urgent situation as their rights to life and integrity face an imminent risk of irreparable harm." The IACHR goes into greater detail on how they arrived at their decision: 

"In making this decision, the Commission identified the role and visibility of Attorney General Ortega as the operator of justice in denouncing violations of human rights and of alleged violations of the legal and constitutional framework, that are allegedly a consequence of the processes related to the Constituent Assembly. Among the risk factors taken into account by the Commission are various statements and stigmatizing pronouncements, some from high ranking officials, which had linked the Attorney General with “terrorist” acts, qualifying her as a traitor to the government; the alleged persecution aimed at removing her from office and reducing her powers; as well as the threats that had been made against her outside the Office of the Public Prosecutor, with the presence of an armed person on one occasion."

The rule of law in Venezuela ended in  2009 when Judge Afiuni was arrested, raped and tortured for following the law and running afoul of the whims of then President Hugo Chavez. The continuing arbitrary nature of the Maduro regime and its escalating violence against nonviolent dissidents should indicate to reasonable observers that former
Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz is in great danger.

#FreeYon: 2008 Milton Friedman Prize Laureate kidnapped in Venezuela

#FreeYon

Venezuelan classical liberal Yon Goicoechea disappeared in Venezuela

 Yesterday morning Yon Goicoechea, a young political leader and family man, was forcibly taken by men in unmarked vehicles.  Later that same aftenoon, Diosdado Cabello at a pro-regime rally called Yon an assassin and accused him of transporting explosives. Cabello has no official role in law enforcement and is also suspected by U.S. prosecutors of being in charge of the infamous drug-trafficking organization, "Cartel de los Soles." The rule of law has not existed in Venezuela for many years and the Leopoldo Lopez show trial in 2015 was but one of many examples of its absence. Where does one find an honest man in Venezuela today who defends the rule of law and liberty? Either protesting on the streets, in prison, dead or exiled.  Yon, who is a classical liberal in the tradition of Milton Friedman, is a nonviolent advocate for liberty, free markets and the rule of law. These are ideas despised by the Chavista regime in Caracas.

Yon is the 2008 laureate of The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty

Today marks six years since the death of Franklin Brito, a man who died on hunger strike on August 30, 2010 defending the rule of law and property rights in Venezuela.  Today the judge who followed the instructions of the regime that contributed to Brito's death is seeking political asylum in Miami. Franklin Brito's daughter took to social media to denounce the outrage. Unfortunately, once again Cubans will recognize this practice having seen it themselves with Cuban human rights violators granted "asylum" by the Obama administration.  The problem is not the Cuban Adjustment Act but the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba and the Obama administration that reward these criminals with visas and residency in the United States. Hopefully, the outcry  Ángela Brito will cause them to back off in this instance.

Following the downward spiral of Venezuelan democracy over the past 15 years and the efforts by young Venezuelans to stand up to the criminal and totalitarian onslaught first by Chavez and now by Maduro (with their Cuban handlers) is often a case of deja vu in the methods of defamation, repression, and terror used against them. Experience in the Cuba case is that remaining silent is deadly for the victims of repression. One must speak out in solidarity with them quickly to save them.

This is why there must also be an outcry now for Yon Goicoechea before it is too late. The alert republished below was passed on to me by social media and apparently originated by Ana Collado.


International Alert:
Political Activist Yon Goicoechea Forcibly Disappeared by Venezuelan Political Police

Yon Goicoechea, kidnapped and missing since yesterday

 Caracas, August 30, 2016. 2:00.p.m.

Yon Goicoechea, political leader and member of the Volutad Popular political party, was taken into custody by presumed agents of SEBIN, the Venezuelan political police, with no arrest warrant, no explanation and no information as to his whereabouts.

Around 9:30 am on Monday, August 29, Goicoechea was in his car, along with driver Peter Salas, on his way to pick up furniture in Caracas. He was intercepted on the highway by two unmarked vehicles. Both Goicoechea and Salas were forcibly removed from their car and taken away to an unknown location. The car was seized.

Diosdado Cabello, a highly influential figure in the government, alleged on Monday afternoon that Goicochea was transporting “detonators for explosive devices,” and referred to Goicoechea as an assassin. The allegation was made in the context of a pro-government political rally. No documentation has been made available to support these claims, and Cabello plays no formal role in law enforcement.

It has been more than 30 hours since Goicoechea and Salas were last seen. They have not been given access to council, their families have not had any contact with them. No official information has been produced as to their whereabouts, the charges levied against them, or the evidence to support them. Under the Venezuelan constitution, Goicoechea has the right to contact with his family and lawyers immediately upon detention.

Goicoechea, a 31 year old lawyer and political activist, especially focused on non-violent activism, won the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty in 2008. He was a key leader during the 2007 student movement. He founded Futuro Presente, an NGO dedicated to the advancement of leadership and democratic values among Venezuelan youths.

Yon had recently moved back with his wife and children to Venezuela, after having spent four years abroad studying and working, in order to continue his political activism in favor of democracy. He is the fourth member of Voluntad Popular to be either detained or issued an arrest warrant in the past week.

Goicoechea is the father of two young children, Salas is the father of a baby girl.

Yon Goicoechea and Peter Salas are two more victims of an unscrupulous and repressive regime. Any evidence of wrongdoing is fabricated. The Venezuelan authorities must ensure their physical safety. We urge you to denounce these obscene and systematic violations of human rights in Venezuela so that repression and persecution of dissidence come to an end once and for all.

Freedom Now for Leopoldo López and Venezuela

"Two years in prison but free in mind and spirit. Seeing that the hours of the dictatorship are numbered, I know that it has been worth it." -  Leopoldo López, over twitter on February 18, 2016

 Unjustly imprisoned for two years for advocating for the nonviolent defense of democracy in Venezuela,  Leopoldo López has become from his prison cell the most important political figure in the country. On February 18, 2014 with hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered in Venezuela he turned himself over to the agents of the Maduro regime but not before addressing them and calling on them to maintain nonviolent discipline:

"Well brothers and sisters I ask you to continue in this fight and do not leave the street, to assume our right to protest, but to do it in peace and without violence, I ask that us, all of us that are here, all of the Venezuelans that want a change, to get informed, educated, organized, and to execute non-violent protests, the protests of masses, and the will of souls and hearts that want to change, but without hurting your neighbor. " 

Since then he has been subjected to a political show trial in a Venezuela that no longer has an independent judiciary and sentenced to 13 years and nine months in prison. Leopoldo went on hunger strike for 30 days demanding that a date be set for the National Assembly elections. This nonviolent action led to the elections being held on December 6, 2015 and the democratic will of the Venezuelan people being exercised and the opposition taking over the National Assembly.

Today the struggle for a free Venezuela continues and the next step is the freedom of all prisoners of conscience in an amnesty. Looking forward to seeing Leopoldo López reunited with his family in freedom and continuing the nonviolent movement to the restoration of the rule of law in Venezuela.

Another 3 business men jailed in Cuba under dubious circumstances

Why Western businessmen doing business with the Castro regime are on a fool's errand.

Automobile executive Cy Tokmakjian sentenced to 15 years prison in Cuba

On Saturday, September 28, 2014 the news came out that a Cuban court had sentenced Canadian executive Cy Tokmakjian to 15 years in prison on corruption charges. The sentence amounts to a life sentence. Cy Tokmakjian is currently 74 years old and has been jailed in Cuba since 2011. Two other executives from the Tokmakjian Group - Canadians Claudio Vetere and Marco Puche - were sentenced to eight and 12 years in prison.

The Tokmakjian Group, of which Cy was the chief executive officer (CEO) said the court had seized its assets in Cuba, worth about $100 million. The company went on to say that the entire process fell short of international due process standards:

"Lack of due process doesn't begin to describe the travesty of justice that is being suffered by foreign businessmen in Cuba."

This is not the first time that this has happened, and there is a systematic method to the Castro regime's madness. The judicial system in Cuba is not independent and is subject to the whims of the dictatorship under guidelines following a communist Soviet model. Human Rights Watch describes the reality of the Cuban legal system:

The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba explicitly states that the courts are "subordinate in the line of authority to the National Assembly... and the Council of State," a supreme executive branch body, and that the Council of State may issue the courts instructions. This structure robs Cuban courts of even the semblance of independence and impartiality.

British investor Stephen Purvis smiles on way to trial in Cuba

Since the rule of law does not exist in Cuba the question that arises is what is the political calculation for the dictatorship? British investor, Stephen Purvis, who was jailed for 15 months and who the Castro regime confiscated 17.3 million dollars of his company's assets in an August 2013 letter to The Economist explained what may be behind these arrests:

I spent time with a number of foreign businessmen arrested during 2011 and 2012 from a variety of countries, although representatives from Brazil, Venezuela and China were conspicuous in the absence. Very few of my fellow sufferers have been reported in the press and there are many more in the system than is widely known. As they are all still either waiting for charges, trial or sentencing they will certainly not be talking to the press. Whilst a few of them are being charged with corruption many are not and the accusations range from sabotage, damage to the economy, tax avoidance and illegal economic activity. It is absolutely clear that the war against corruption may be a convenient political banner to hide behind and one that foreign governments and press will support. But the reasons for actively and aggressively pursuing foreign business are far more complicated.  Why for example is the representative of Ericsson in jail for exactly the same activities as their Chinese competitor who is not? Why for example was one senior European engineer invited back to discuss a potential new project only to be arrested for paying technical workers five years ago when he was a temporary resident in Cuba?

A more fundamental question for investors in places like Cuba and North Korea is: "What were you thinking?" Cuba is a communist dictatorship and by definition communism argues for abolishing all private property, and claims that everything that is owned is owned by all members of society. In practice this means that it is "owned" by a governing elite and in the case of Cuba this means the Castro family and a small ruling clique overseeing a huge fortune.

If you want to experience human rights abuses in a communist prison then doing business in Cuba or North Korea is probably a good idea otherwise it seems to be a fool's errand.