Following is a translation of the communiqué that the National College of Journalists (CNP) and the National Press Workers' Union (SNTP) submitted to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission requesting an OAS visit to the country to acknowledge the political prisoner situation in Venezuela. The original is available here.
The National Association of Journalists (CNP) and the National Press Workers' Union (SNTP), deeply concerned about the climate of intolerance, absence of social dialogue and the criminalization of dissent and public protest that in recent weeks has increased throughout the country, call the public's attention to the following:
It is alarming and unacceptable that despite the fact that the right to demonstrate is a guarantee established in the constitution, the number of citizens detained or under court monitoring for their participation in protests directly related to the defense of rights of citizenship, social and labor rights, already exceeds 2,200.
We reject that a high number of people are subjected to trials without respect for their constitutional right to due process or the provision of the criminal procedure code to be judged in freedom.
We consider it extremely serious that the state agencies responsible for ensuring the observance of human rights and all legal norms, such as the Attorney General's Office and the Ombudsman, ignore those responsibilities and are allowed to threaten judicial procedures that reinforce the systematic criminal actions of the government.
We denounce the state policy of criminalization and neglect of complaints and popular demands and note that this is what is leading to different sectors of the country to take extreme measures such as the hunger strike that more than 150 students are now undertaking.
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