Student leader Julio César Rivas arrived at OAS headquarters directly from the Yare prison after receiving conditional parole. After greeting his colleagues, who have been on hunger strike for five days to protest his arrest, the university expressed its gratitude to the student movement and everyone who supported him while he was imprisoned in the Yare prison. In his view, his arrest was "planned to scare people ... it makes people scared to see that people with power use it to intimidate the weak," he said, and announced that he was joining the strike. Subsequently, a radio and television broadcaster kept him from going live on open signal. At that time RCTV Internacional Globovision continued transmitting images courtesy of Globovisión in order for Rivas to be able to conclude his thoughts. Rivas must report to the court every 30 days. To Gonzalo Himiob, Rivas' attorney, the decision is the result of "peaceful protest" which the students began, and until yesterday totaled 50 young people across the country. But being just one of the goals of the demonstration, Himiob explained that the hunger strike "will not give up," and will continue to demand freedom for political prisoners and a visit by officials of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.
The leader of La Causa Radical (LCR), Andrés Velásquez, said the arrest of the secretary general of Sintraferrominera, Rubén González, accused of the charges of illegal assembly, incitement to crime, restrictions on freedom of work and failure to comply with special security zones, is not an isolated incident, "but another case of the repressive policy of the national government at all levels." The opposition leader told him that González is "paying the price" for leading a recent 16-day strike in state-owned iron mining company. "His arrest is not a cause, it is part of the criminalization of protest and demonstrations. According to Velásquez, the national government, using a "repressive architecture" aims to intimidate and promote self-censorship in the country's unions.
The International Association of Broadcasting (IAB) will hold its XXXIX General Assembly in Brasilia this week, concerned with the "threats" faced by media in several countries in Latin America. The cases of Venezuela, Honduras, Ecuador and Argentina will be a central part of the discussions of the assembly. The assembly will be held from Tuesday to Thursday, when new officers for the organization they will be elected. The IAB was founded in 1946 and comprises about 17,000 radio and television from America, Asia and Europe. Brazilian Daniel Slaviero, vice president of the IAB for South America, said that "the current situation in several countries in the region causes a lot of concern because of the threats to the rule of law and free exercise of journalism." The situations he described as "most disturbing" were the case of Venezuela, where "the government of President Hugo Chávez and his political allies imposed, for years, threats of all kinds to journalism," he said.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa expressed willingness on Monday to receive the donation of six Mirage aircraft owned by Venezuela and said that if Colombia, the United States or Israel made similar offers, would accept them "with delight". Correa said he "would like some day for armed forces to be unnecessary," but warned: "Today more than ever they are necessary and if we have Armed Forces they must be well equipped." He also pointed out that Venezuela wants to donate six aircraft Mirage "that were who were discharged (...) because they were Sukoi, from Russia, and seem to be in very good condition; so we are going to accept them, we are preparing the final reports." Last week, Ecuador's Defense Minister Javier Ponce told reporters that the Ecuadorian Armed Forces are negotiating the purchase of 12 Cheetah C fighter aircraft (Mirage modified) from the South African Air Force. Asked if the possible acceptance of the Venezuelan offer significantly affects sovereignty, Ponce said that's "nonsense".
The representatives of platforms 1, 5 and 9 for the union elections of PDVSA accused the company, through management of Loss Prevention and Control (PCP), of "intimidating" workers selected to be witnesses and board members who are not sympathetic to the governing board (number 7). The delivery of permits has been delayed, "they threaten them" and "continue persecuting," according to labor activists. Germán Cortez, candidate for platform 5, charged that "there is an outrage" against members of that option and seven others. The difficulties with permits focus on alternatives "that Minister Rafael Ramirez has," who is also president of PDVSA. He explained that to formalize the participation of witnesses and board members of the National Electoral Council (CNE), he has sent a list to PDVSA to authorize permits with what they knew of the names of the contributors. "Following the release of that list, the CNE has been pressuring (...)", he said. He said that refusing to issue permits "may have been grounds to dismiss our platform." They made a pact with other groups who aspire to be on the board of the Federation of Oil Workers of Venezuela to face the difficulties expected for the October 1 elections. They suspect that the PSUV can move strategically with its patrols to disrupt the process and "sabotage the elections".
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