Venezuela

Venezuelans under Chavez have suffered a loss of basic human rights.

Venezuela is located in South America. The country is located to the east of Colombia, south of the Caribbean, west of the Atlantic Ocean and Guayana Esequiba and north of Brazil. The capital is Caracas.

Venezuela is presently under the repressive dictatorship of Hugo Chavez who has shown a marked intolerance for fundamental human rights and has funded insurgent activity outside of Venezuela's borders. Chavez has much control of oil revenues from Venezuela's state owned, state run oil monopoly. While Chavez in public criticizes capitalism, he has sought to manipulate oil prices above $60 per barrel for Venezuela's largest customer, the United States.

The U.S. State Department's Report on Global Anti-Semitism also recently cited Venezuela for statements by "senior government officials supporting Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Islamic extremist movements" which "raised tensions and intimidated the country's Jewish community. There were several reports of anti-Semitic graffiti at synagogues in Caracas and two reported threatening phone calls made to Jewish community centers. In August, President Chavez cautioned citizens against following the lead of Jewish citizens in the effort to overturn his referendum victory. Anti-Semitic leaflets also were available to the public in an Interior and Justice Ministry office waiting room."

In 2004 the Venezuelan National Assembly passed the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television. This law establishes ambiguous guidelines regulating broadcasting content. It further requires the stations to transmit the government’s educational, informative, or public safety broadcasts for up to 60 minutes a week. Finally, the law requires stations to transmit in full Chavez’s speeches and other political messages, some of which last up to five hours.

In today’s Venezuela, independent journalists are sometimes arrested and frequently fined and harassed in an effort to intimidate those who speak against the Chavez regime.

Mr. Chavez’s government has bullied the remaining independent media into self-censorship, and does not want the press to reveal the inefficiencies of his government. He has gone to great lengths to bar journalists of privately-owned, independent media from covering government hearings, and he now requires stations to use government producers for documentaries and programs.