Miami Herald: Eligio Cedeño, Prisoner of Chavez

Amsterdam explained to the New Herald that authoritarian governments - like that of Chavez - are using the "aberrant practice" of "locking up their political opponents using charges of tax or business fraud, thus assuring that no human rights organization will pursue the case."

Those accusations do not negate his client's condition as a political prisoner, added the attorney.

"Eligio Cedeño is a political prisoner because he aided the exit of opponents of Chavez from Venezuela, in particular a labor union leader," said Amsterdam. "That is not the formal charge, but now we know that that is the political motivation in the case."

As revenge for that intervention, Cedeño was accused of involvement in a case of tax fraud, contraband, and misappropriation of funds that the judges have not been able to prove, said Amsterdam.

What is more, added Amsterdam, Cedeño remains in prison because "he could be a politically dangerous rival [for Chavez]: a young man, handsome, rich, and popular," an evaluation that Cedeño himself does not deny.

A spokesperson for the office of the Attorney General of Venezuela told the New Herald that the decision to arrest Cedeño was the result of an investigation by that organization and not a political persecution.

"We do not operate politically. There is evidence, there are accusations, and it is the job of the defense attorneys to dispute them," said the unidentified functionary.

Amsterdam indicated that, at Cedeño's request, the defense's legal team is preparing a report on political prisoners in Venezuela.

The international campaign in favor of Cedeño includes important legal firms in Washington and important world figures such as Polish leader Lech Walesa.

"I am a prisoner by order of president Chavez himself," affirmed Cedeño in an interview with the New Herald.

Cedeño was arrested in February of 2007 for having collaborated with Consorcio MicroStar in the obtainment of dollars for the acquisition of merchandise that never arrived in the country.

His attorneys allege that there have been numerous procedural violations in the case by the Venezuelan state attorneys, including the abrupt suspension of the trial on the night before the verdict was to be rendered, "once it was evident that the state had failed in its attempts to prove the case."

The attorneys also allege that Cedeño has been under arrest without having been sentenced. The State's attorneys have requested the extension of his preventive detention while they consider other options.

How do they justify the accusations?

Eligio Cedeño: [It is] a fraud by those in power to justify the illegal privation of my liberty. They have not been able to be prove these charges and for that reason have, by a number of means, blocked the conclusion of a trial that is a complete farce: Cadivi (the currency exchange administration) approved the requisites of another person who had requested dollars for importation, according to established process, through a bank. The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) authorized the dollars on the basis of previous approval by Cadivi. I was the director of a bank that simply processed the matter under the parameters for importations established by the government itself, and because of that, I was accused of something that is the responsibility of Cadivi and the Central Bank of Venezuela. For that reason I say it is absurd. Not only have they charged me with the contraband of merchandise with which I have no relation, but that never even entered Venezuela.

No charges were filed against me prior to my arrest for misappropriation of funds, [an omission] which constitutes a grave violation of process. In addition to the fact that there is no victim or quantifiable damage to anyone, even the Banco Canarias has not claimed to be a victim and the experts of the Superintendent of Banks determined that all the operations were legal and that the bank suffered no loss. The case is absurd and I think that for that reason they are trying to justify the unjustifiable, that for more than two years I have been held by the Disip [state intelligence service] at the whim of the Venezuelan leadership.

When you were detained you were the president of Bolivar Bank and a director of Banco Canarias. Did you have any type of business or financial relationship with the Venezuelan government?

EC: At the time I was taken into custody I was the president of Bolivar Bank and Banpro. The State had accounts in those institutions, as well as did persons who work or sympathize with the State leadership and president Chavez. And the State institutions had commercial ties to independent private companies and to persons who certainly maintained positions contrary to the national government. Eligio Cedeño, at the personal level, did not get involved in any of this. I have always been respectful towards persons and businesses, and to their independence and ideologies. And very careful and precise - mind you - in making sure that those connections do not generate any damage to the country, or to the institutions that I have been charged with managing responsibly.

What is the origin of your relationship with businessman Gustavo Arraiz?

EC: My relationship with Mr. Arraiz was limited to that of being a director of a bank that, as I have stated, met the requirements established by the government to process an application for foreign currency for his company for the importation of equipment - the same relationship that he could have had with the other directors that worked there at the time. They have tried to use against me the fact that my brother had a work relationship with the MicroStar company, but that has nothing to do with the problem that I am involved in. In any case, the system of evaluation of the requisites and approval of the dollars, as I stated, are the sole responsibility of Cadivi.

Do you consider yourself a businessman who has done well thanks to your contacts or to the opportunities offered by the Bolivarian revolution of Chavez?

EC: Not at all. I have worked for 25 years in the financial sector. Learning, promoting initiatives that generated the birth and growth of healthy businesses, from which hundreds of families have lived and enjoyed stability. Twenty five years is much more than the time of president Chavez' mandate. When I started working, at 16 years of age, years later when I graduated as an administrator, and when I began to grow and become independent, I always maintained the dream of building a serious business with ever-growing social responsibility. The image of an upstart and opportunist has been part of the conspiracy against my image, so that they can say that this prisoner is indeed where he should be, in an environment in which hate has been sown for many years between political, economic, and social classes. But my path was established many years ago, starting from nothing, based on effort and the philosophy of teamwork and building for the development of the nation.

What is your position regarding the government of Chavez?

EC: It is a critical position. Furthermore, when I myself am a victim of the violation of human rights and I have seen how dozens of others are confined in prisons without having access to constitutional guarantees regarding fair trials, due process, presumption of innocence, etc. But also, as a productive businessman who is concerned for the stability of the working family, I have serious worries about the direction that this government has planned for Venezuela. Without economic security, without judicial security and, at the same time, sensitive to the personal insecurity that violates the most important human right, the right to life of thousands of Venezuelans... how could I not be critical? And this, I suspect, could be having an important influence in this imprisonment in which I have been held for more than two years. Now, it is contradictory that I be sanctioned for my critical position, if the president is true to his constantly reiterated word that he is a friend of constructive criticism. And in any case, this is what I most desire, to build solutions, a better future for all.

What is your position regarding the groups opposed to Chavism?

EC: My overall position is one of respect and understanding. I recognize in the majority the spirit of struggle to find a peaceful and constitutional path to resolve the differences that deeply divide the nation. I fully identify with the struggle for human rights because if they were respected, then there would be no political prisoners or political persecution, but even more than this, there would not be so much mourning in Venezuela because of the misappropriation of the apparatus of justice and the political apparatus, engaged more in political causes than in the interest of the citizens to which it owes its existence. I, too, am in the struggle, because if human rights were respected we would not have such a serious problem of discrimination, with justice being practically reduced to an instrument of political punishment against criticism and dissidence. But although this is so, even with the indignation that I feel because of my illegitimate deprivation of liberty, I remain firm in that it is necessary to support the opposition movement in order to achieve a peaceful and legal solution that leads to understanding among Venezuelans.

Do you consider yourself to be persecuted by some high functionary of the Venezuelan government? And if so, who and for what reasons?

EC: We have received reports from different sources over these years that my case has something to do with a decision made by former Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez. But given the degree of political subordination to the president that this gentleman exhibits even today, and given that Luisa Ortega Diaz is now the current Attorney General, and that the prosecution continues to act as executioner in my case, impeding my right to be tried in liberty, the very right that that office does recognize in someone like the chief of La Piedrita, who is accused of homicide and assault, then I believe that I am a prisoner by the disposition of President Chavez.

It has been claimed that your detention is closely related to a supposed plan to massively disseminate intimate images of a close relative of Chavez. Do you have any comment?

EC: That it is another serious lie to try to harm my prestige, in order to justify my imprisonment. I know no member of the presidential family. Nor have I ever taken any interest in their personal lives. I am a man who is respectful of human dignity, of the value of family to everyone. Never would I do anything to morally injure anyone. And I know nothing of any photos. I am not directly or indirectly connected with this matter. I am not depraved. I am a father, a grateful son, someone who longs to return to his home, and a friend for whom my own honor or the honor of others is not negotiable.

It is claimed that your imprisonment is a product of powerful enemies in the Venezuelan financial system who resent your successes.

EC: I could almost assure you that is in not just a matter of that, but that there is a network of complicity in which judicial actors have been quick to acquiesce to the whim of powerful political actors and financial agents with whom they have relationships, who have surely calculated many gains by eliminating me from free professional practice. I know that sooner or later we will know who, and for what purpose, has been behind the judicial kidnapping of Eligio Cedeño.

According to Amsterdam, you remain in prison because "you could be a dangerous political rival [for Chavez]: a young man, handsome, rich, and popular." Do you share that assessment?

EC: I have not proposed to be a rival to president Chavez. Now, if what Eligio Cedeño has done with his entrepreneurship, with his workers, and with the humble communities - whence I, a humble servant, come, by the way - if that represents a problem for the president, I will take the opportunity to recommend that he make some changes and take the opportunity to use the experience of others who love Venezuela in order to make even himself more efficient. With all humility, if that were the problem, I would put myself at the service of the country.