posted by Charles H. Russo on Oct 17
This is what happens when the opposition boycotts the election. In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez won and almost immediately started dismantling freedoms: closing television stations; nationalising private industries and suspending civil liberties. With the National Assembly comprised largely of Chavez supporters, the opposition is virtually powerless.
Now a pro-government committee in the National Assembly has proposed a constitutional amendment allowing suspension of due process protections. Human Rights Watch said the amendment would eliminate the constitutional prohibition on suspending due process rights in states of emergency. Under Venezuela’s constitution, these rights include presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial; the right to an attorney; the right against self-incrimination; the right of a defendant to know the charges and evidence against him and the right against double jeopardy.
“This amendment, if approved, would allow President Chavez to invoke a state of emergency to justify suspending certain rights that are untouchable under international law,” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. Both the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have confirmed that many of these rights are considered so fundamental, countries are not permitted to derogate from their obligations to respect them, even in a state of emergency.
The proposed amendments eliminate constitutional time limits on states of emergency. In addition, the amendments eliminate the requirement that the Constitutional Tribunal review the decree regulating suspension of rights during emergencies, as well as language establishing that such a decree “meet the requirements, principles and guarantees established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights.”
Proponents of the amendment argue the government needs free rein to suspend due process and other rights, including the right to freedom of information, in the event of another coup attempt against Chavez, like the one in April 2002.
Human Rights Watch stressed that it is during highly-politicized emergencies that it becomes most pressing to respect basic due process guarantees, such as protections against arbitrary detention and the right to a fair trial. “Recent Latin American history shows that it is precisely during states of emergency that countries need strong judicial protections to prevent abuse,” said Vivanco. “Otherwise, what has historically prevailed is the brutal exercise of power.”
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