Striking testimony from Ligia Bolivar, human rights activist in Venezuela, while giving evidence before the International Human Rights Committee of Canada's Parliament:
Mr. Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, St. Leonard-St.Michel (Montreal)
" I have a question for my own information. On page 3 of your presentation, you say it's interesting to note that half of the workers and trade union leaders facing criminal charges for demonstrations are Chavistas, yet they're still being put in prison. Isn't that a contradiction?
Ms. Ligia Bolivar Osuna:
The point is that whoever is perceived by the authorities to be against the so-called process will be persecuted anyway. There is the emblematic case of Rubén Gonzáles, a steelworkers trade union leader. He is in prison for a strike. The steel industry is considered a key industry for the security of the nation, and therefore strikes are not allowed. The fact is that they were claiming for a basic thing for any worker, which is to come to the end of their trade union contract. Now he is in prison; after that another group of workers went out to the streets to demonstrate against his being in prison for demonstrating, and they went to prison.
You're saying that nobody's really protected in Venezuela. Whether you're a sympathizer or not, it could turn at any point.
Ms. Ligia Bolivar Osuna:
That's the trend now. It was not the trend in the years before, but it is becoming a trend now. Even if you have expressed sympathy with President Chávez's project, if there is any interpretation that what is done can jeopardize his project, then there can be consequences."
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Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
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