Brazzil

So are you saying he is a Bush lite? The difference being that he was actually given a democratic mandate twice to rule.

At least he is investing a higher proportion of the oil wealth in programmes to help the poor, insteading of blowing it on the roulette wheel in Las Vegas and a face and tit job for the wife and mistress as many Brasilan politicions.

So are you saying he is a Bush lite? The difference being that he was actually given a democratic mandate twice to rule.

Yeah right - he was elected in "Jimmy Carter Foundation" monitored elections - oh the prestige!! The EU wouldn't even touch it because they knew it would be rigged . .

Chavez is alright with me, even if he might have one or two minor flaws. I say this as First Gulf War veteran and as a person that would like to consider himself a citizen of the world.

Surely Venezuela has greater poverty issues than the U.S. Nonetheless I'm appreciative of President Chavez and the Venezuelan people that support him, for offering the poorest citizens of Milwaukee and Chicago discount heating oil and free eye surgey. Especially in light of Milwaukee's 40% increase in homicide for 2005 and growing despair in poverty rather than increase in prosperity.


Excerpt from a fairly recent article in Milwaukee Journal.

"Venezuela bypasses Bush, offers help here
Poor would get heating-oil discounts, eye operations

By LARRY SANDLER
lsandler@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 15, 2006

Venezuela's government plans to offer discounted heating oil and free eye surgery to Milwaukee's low-income residents, Venezuelan officials announced Thursday.

That's the latest move in a broad-based campaign by the oil-rich nation's President Hugo Chavez to build grass-roots support and trade ties despite tension with President Bush's administration. Venezuelan government spokesman Edward Mercado called it "a new way of talking about trade."

Milwaukee and Chicago would be the first U.S. cities to benefit from the eye care program, which now flies patients from 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations to Venezuela for cataract operations performed by Cuban doctors, said Martin Sanchez, Venezuela's consul general in Chicago."

Amaro Magenta, Caracas, 19.06.06
Intelectuals such as Augusto Zimmermann have no problem in pinpointing half truths and full lies aired by interested parties - such as mainstream media, as it is - in order to draw the preconcieved picture they want to push for.
However, they sweat out and face hard brain-tensed times when trying to disguise in liberal terminology the picture of the given scenario they despise, of which all they have clear about is that they should promote the same feelings among their readers.
This is the more comic when the "man" is a jurist, and starts by outruling any possibility of changing the Constitution. Even Kelsen would blush before the reactinary idea that a people can't change the rules through democratic process - exactly what happened in Venezuela, however dantesc may the manipulation of history be in the hands of such writers.

For an idea of how people really look on Chavez, look to the voting in latin-american countries when Chavez threw his "support" behind candidates.

Every time Chavez opened his mouth, the candidates he was supporting went down in the polls.

"Every time Chavez opened his mouth, the candidates he was supporting went down in the polls"
This totally false "hint" is a great discovery of the enemies of Venezuela's revolution and of emerging democratic movements all over the place.
A year before Humala presented his candidacy in Peru, he was virtually on 0%. Six months before the elections, he had 6% of the intention of Peruvian voters. In the first round, he won wtih 32%. This widely was said to be his roof. With weakest political structure available, he went on to challenge traditional parties, against a formidable national and international media operation against him and Chavez. He won landslide victories in all the quechua territories. This obviously shows that Chavez helped nationalist voters decide themselves in supporting Humala. As for Mexico, Lopez Obrador has not received open support form Chavez, and in any case, in latest poles he is once again on top. Conclusion being: "everytime Chavez opened his mouth, the candidates he was supporting went up in the polls".

I'm not so sure that Chavez offering heating oil and eye surgery to American cities isn't pure populism and less pure beneficence. It still helps nonetheless and I would accept cataract surgery from Chavez if the need arose but this has less to do with the inherent "goodness" of Chavez and more to do with the f**king inherent evil of the US healthcare system . . . Chavez is no saint and you can be he has rubbed out political opponents whether you like to admit it or not . . .

Come on, Chavez works from the Authoritarianism for Dummies books. His gestures of goodwill to the good people of the U.S. so beleagured by a rotten US govt is a tired rerun of a bad sitcom. Castro pulled that crap, Pinochet, Saddam, everyone. Chavez is a dusty old anachronism, and unfortunately, when your country has hit hard times, populism always rears its ugly head (Nazis, Facists, Peron, Franco, Castro- where has populism improved anything?)

Naturally, those that forgive Chavez's sins love to take it out on Bush. Easy prey = votes. Bush is an idiot, but, come on Chavez is doing textbook saber-rattling just to get rah rah cheerleading out of his ignorant followers. Saddam did it, Iran's been doing it, N Korea has made a religion out of it, -- who hasnt played the David and Goliath card against the US just to forward their personal fortune in the guise of bravery. This is cult of personality crap, and the ignorant will follow. If he didnt have oil, who would give a damn anyway. What, is Venezuela going to embargo our bananas and cigarettes? Since the US is 55% of their export market, they'd better think a little harder about this.

Sorry you are wrong !
Simply because in the meantime oil more than doubled doesnt mean he gives more (PERCENTAGE WISE).

The country is the fifth LARGEST world oil producer and has so much poverty !!!!!

Then the question is :what is Chavez doing with all that money ?
1) there is as much corruption as in Brazil.....under Chavez !
2) Chavez is giving and lending money to other countries instead of spending it for the benefits of the entire population.

Brazil is doing exactly the same : your agricultural exports amount to $ 40 billions annually, for the benefits of the minority, instead of feeding your poors FIRST.

No doubt then than Brazil and Venezuela are the best friends to each others.

YOU ARE VERY SIMILAR !
A RICH COUNTRY .... WITH SO MANY POORS !!!!!!


A SHAME TO HUMANITY !!!!

Augusto,

The left always loves a good dictator, Chavez and likes of Castro.

They are idiots.

WITH SO MANY POORS !!!!!! lmaof

Quote:

"this has less to do with the inherent "goodness" of Chavez and more to do with the f**king inherent evil of the US healthcare system ."


Reply: Haha! Yes probably some level of truth in that. In all fairness to President Chavez though, from best I can tell, he seems to be moved by sincere convictions and utilizes his education, knowledge, and power to help extend empowerment to masses of others less fortunate than him.


Quote:

"Chavez is no saint and you can be he has rubbed out political opponents whether you like to admit it or not."


Reply: Few persons in this world are saints. I myself am far from anything saintly. But at the sametime it's also rare that persons epitomize evil. Though I think President Bush has some flaws and character defects, I have never, and still do not, consider him evil. Nor do I consider Presidemt Chavez evil. Now the "Green River Serial Killer"... that's a person approaching the far end of evil on the bar line if not epitomizing evil.

I admittedly don't know enough about Chavez to judge correctly your statment or charge that he has rubbed out political opponents. But since your post has been a calm reply that neither launched into emotional rants against Chavez or personal attacks against me, I'm more inclined to try and objectively consider what you say.

However I have to tell you, I have become quite hardened in life, I'm inclined to believe that my "American experience" has been less like the booming economy the WWII and Baby Boomers faced in respects to numbers of jobs and even pay power at the entry level positions during their young adult years, as well as the more stable and less homicide ridden neighborhoods, and the less greed prevelance and the less *mean girl* culture. I'm more inclined to believe that my "American experience" has been more like the "Roaring Twenties" and the unstability of neighborhoods and means more approaching the East Coast urban centres of the late 1800's than the 1950's and 1970's. --- So I said all that to say this, life to me is about a constant state of war, about, bribes, intimidations, conspiracy and murder, about women that have no human level respect for you unless you're rolling on the most expensive rims that can be afforded.

As far as I'm concerned the majority of WWII and now especially the Baby Boomer generation in high offices (such as Congress) has sold out all young males of this society. I don't trust them. They got their bread (money) and they don't care if we rot in hell. So little do they know a person like me is becoming ferocious, but not looking toward prison but towards college and maybe even politics. For me life in the U.S. so best I can tell, is about putting on the best Italian suit you can afford, starched collars, gleaming cuff links, watch, ring, and bracelit, and cracking some mutha f-ucka's head open when the time calls for it. That's why I keep my body conditioned for war at all times. So if Chavez had somebody rubbed out I'm not sure I will have to much emotional investment in it. In fact if I where ever to become a member of Congress, they can stand the f-uck by, because I would do the required jail time out of stomping one of those mutha f-ckas into the ground or biting their ear off with my teeth if they ever dare disrepect me; even with my nice suit on, even with my education.

I've been away from this site for months and months. Nothing has changed. Still articles by that odious Scottsman and this cryptofascist prick Zimmermann. Jesus Christ, you suck. When's the next article by that moron Robin Sparks to enlighten us about the wonders of cheap labor and low, low prices?

Good bye.

The author wrote a great article.

I am conscious, however, that he might have deeply disturbed you, and your stalinist faith in tyrants such as colonel Chavez

To the guy who says it is fascist to criticise caudillos like Chavez, there is only two options for you:

You are either mad or just applying the stalinist tactic of calling right wrong and wrong right.

If the second hypothesis is the correct one, than I want to say to you that I know very well your deceptive tactics.

The 120,000,000 human beings who died as a result of your ideology will never let me forget it!

Good bye.

To the pinheads ("To the above poster" and "Who are you?") above, you don't know my "ideology," so STFU. Now, get off the right wing Koolaid and start thinking critically. Use what little brains God gave you, you stupid parrots.

Since when stalinist murderers like you believe in God?

So go to Hell you supporter of caudillos and all left-wing oppressors of this world.

Quote: WITH SO MANY POORS !!!!!! lmaof

Would that be poor in grammer someone on this site needs to graduate HIGH SCHOOL LOL ETC ETC

To: Do you believe in God?

Do YOU believe in God?

Maybe that was deleted because I didn't preface it with saying: read some independent, disinterested journalism regarding Chavez by Greg Palast. Again, a link to some of his articles can be found here: http://www.gregpalast.com/index.php?s=chavez

"For Much of Brazil's Intelligentsia Caudillo Chavez Is a Symbol of Democracy"

Intelligentsia: intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite

And for the un-intelligentsia like Zimmermann and the illiterate pea brains above, Chavez is a "Stalinist" and a "tyrant."

I'll throw in with the intelligentsia.

Chavez was elected democratically . . . twice (more than we in the USA can say about Bush)! That's in spite of the thuggish tactics of the right wing opposition (again, more than we can say in the USA) and in spite of their undemocratic attempt to unseat him through a coup d'état. But to the un-intelligentsia like Zimmermann and the illiterate pea brains above, it’s those fascist thugs who are a symbol of democracy. What a sad joke you are!

I've never met a perfect person. Politicians are just as flawed as the rest of humanity. There's plenty to criticize about Chavez. Never give up criticizing those in power. But he's a hundred times better than the opposition and a hundred times more democratic.

This official document must be read by the dangerous left-wing idiot who wrote the above message.

----
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Letter to President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías
Washington, D.C., April 9, 2004

President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Palacio de Miraflores
Caracas – VENEZUELA

Fax: 58212 806 3221

Dear President Chávez:

I am writing to express Human Rights Watch’s deep concern about credible reports we have received that National Guard and police officers beat and tortured people who were detained during the recent protests in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities. Such cases were not unusual or exceptional. The abuses allegedly committed were widespread and appeared to enjoy official approval at some level of command in the forces responsible for them.

On March 14, during your ‘Alo Presidente’ address from the Burros Island, you denied that government security forces committed human rights violations during the protests and insisted that the rights of all detainees in Venezuela are respected. Indeed, you challenged those who had complained about human rights abuse to present you with the names of victims, and you declared your uncompromising commitment to promoting human rights and bringing human rights abusers to justice. In the spirit of that commitment, we respectfully urge you to ensure that investigations into these alleged abuses are impartial and thorough, and that the parties responsible for human rights abuses are prosecuted.

Human Rights Watch does not take sides in the current political conflict in Venezuela. Our commitment is solely to the protection of fundamental human rights enshrined in international treaties such as the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the American Convention on Human Rights, which categorically prohibit torture under any circumstances. As a party to both of these treaties, Venezuela has an obligation not only to prevent violations, but also to conduct thorough and impartial investigations, and to prosecute those found responsible for committing them.

Over the past several weeks, Human Rights Watch has collected testimony regarding alleged ill-treatment and torture that took place from February 27 until March 5. The cases described below are based on Human Rights Watch’s interviews with young people who were detained during the protests and, in one case, with a detainee’s parents. Venezuelan nongovernmental human rights groups have also documented similar abuses, as have press accounts based on interviews with former detainees. Altogether, the available information suggests a disturbing pattern of conduct that clearly violates international law enforcement standards.

During the week in question, Venezuela experienced the most serious unrest since the attempted coup against your government on April 11, 2002. An opposition march on February 27 turned violent as demonstrators clashed with units of the National Guard who were preventing the protesters from gaining access to the Plaza Morelos, in central Caracas. On that day, and in the days that followed, security forces repeatedly used tear gas and plastic bullets to disband demonstrations.

Civilians on the government as well as the opposition side are alleged to have used firearms, as are members of the Directorate of Services of Intelligence and Prevention (DISIP), dressed in civilian clothes. Thirteen people died between February 27 and March 16 from bullet wounds after being shot in circumstances that have still to be clarified, and 119 people were wounded, forty-nine from gunshots.

Between 300 and 400 people were reportedly detained during the protests. Most of the Caracas detainees were released during the weeks that followed, except for eight who reportedly remain in detention at the time of this writing. Most of those charged face charges such as illegal assembly, obstruction of roads, resisting arrest, and illegal possession of explosive material.

Former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they were beaten during and after their arrests with nightsticks, with the flat side of sabres, and with helmets, gunstocks, and other articles. These beatings often continued as they were being transported in National Guard vehicles. Two detainees stated that their captors hurled tear gas bombs into a closed vehicle in which they had just been seated, causing extreme distress, near suffocation, and panic, while three described how the powder from tear gas canisters was sprinkled on their faces and eyes, causing burns and skin irritation. Three stated that they were shocked with electric batons while in custody and defenseless.

The repeated reports of tear gas powder being sprinkled on the faces and bodies of individuals in custody, as well as the release of tear gas and pepper spray in vehicles crammed with prisoners, are particularly disturbing. Gas used in confined spaces is more concentrated and lasting in its effects than when used in the open. It could cause individuals who are incapacitated or unable to move to suffocate. It is also potentially fatal to those with lung or heart ailments. Direct contact with tear gas powder can cause blistering skin burns, eye injury, and lasting respiratory effects. There should be a full investigation into the alleged abuse of chemical riot control agents and, if the reports are confirmed, strict orders should be issued to prevent a recurrence of this practice in the future.

Carlos Eduardo Izcaray Pinto, solo cellist of the Venezuela Symphony orchestra, was arrested during the night of March 2 near Altamira Plaza, where he had been watching anti-government protests close to his home. Izcaray told Human Rights Watch that the National Guard had come under a barrage of stones and fireworks and had charged the demonstrators, who ran in all directions. He decided to walk home but was intercepted by a National Guardsman riding a motorbike, who stopped him for questioning. Ignoring his protests that he was only a bystander, the guardsman beat him repeatedly around the head, insulted him, and forced him onto the back of the motorbike. He was later put into a truck in which there were five or six other detainees. He told Human Rights Watch:


The guardsmen in the truck continued to hit me on the neck and body with their nightsticks, helmets, and even traffic cones. One hit me on the elbow with a stick so hard that my arm and hand went numb. Another emptied a teargas bomb and smeared the contents on my hair and face, then set light to my hair, burning my neck. One guy put a pistol in my mouth and made me repeat a phrase after him, “I am going home to my husband.” I suppose it was meant to humiliate me.

After a while they moved us into a second truck. Inside, they made us inhale tear gas after closing the canvas sides of the truck and putting on their gas masks. They threw one of the big [teargas] bombs inside, closed all the doors and if any one pushed on the canvas sides to escape they got beaten. My lungs were burning and I really thought I was going to die. Eventually I managed to get out the side of the vehicle and they didn’t try to stop me.

We were taken to the 51st Detachment of the National Guard at El Paraíso in Western Caracas. They made us all kneel in a corner looking at the ground and they hit anyone who moved with their helmets or sticks. Then they gave me electric shocks on the neck and arms from some equipment I couldn’t see because it was above my head.


Izcaray told Human Rights Watch that there were three minors in the group with whom he was arrested, including a fifteen-year-old. “They were treated as badly as the rest of us. The guards made us stand up and sit down in quick order and the slowest would get teargas powder thrown in his eyes. Most of the time it was the kid they threw the powder at.”

According to Izcaray’s father, orchestral conductor Felipe Izcaray, “Carlos was released thanks to a kindly soul in the National Guard who allowed him to make a phone call, as he was on a list of people to be transferred to La Planta. The alert mobilized his family, friends and colleagues and he was eventually set free, but he was not allowed to see his lawyer during all the time he was detained.” Carlos Izcaray told Human Rights Watch that, before he was released, a National Guard officer warned him of reprisals if he publicly denounced his maltreatment. When Human Rights Watch spoke to him on March 19, he said that his hand was still numb and he was unable to hold the bow of his cello.

Although arrested by a different police force, the experience of eighteen-year-old high-school student Asdrúbal Joaquín Rojas Monteverde was similar. Rojas was arrested on March 1 in Maripérez, Caracas, by armed officers of the military police. He told Human Rights Watch that his mother had sent him to buy some cell-phone cards. He was on his way to buy them accompanied by two friends (one of them a minor), when they were stopped by the military police. Rojas told Human Rights Watch:


The military police took us to the Plaza Venezuela, where they put us in a truck. They beat me with their helmets, especially on my left arm. They sprinkled powder from a tear gas can over my eyes. It stung like crazy. Then they threw a tear gas bomb into the truck. I took a deep breath and held my breath as long as I could, but then I was breathing pure gas. I was suffocating…the police did nothing to help us, but I beat against the canvas sides of the truck and managed to find an opening. I was able to breathe air again. After this, the officers made me appear in front of the television cameras in the Plaza Venezuela and say that I had received the money I was carrying from the Acción Democrática as payment for participating in the protests. They threatened to beat me more if I refused.

The truck then took us to the military police headquarters in Fuerte Tiuna, where they continued to mistreat me. They gave me electric shocks five times from a baton that they carry (one of them also used it when he arrested me). It made my muscles contract from the effect of the electricity, and then my whole body started trembling.


Rojas’ mother, Ivette Monteverde de Rojas, told Human Rights Watch that she saw bruises on his neck and his shoulder when she visited him on the following day.

Rojas was released conditionally on March 25 after being held for more than three weeks in the military police’s 35th regiment headquarters in San José de San Martín, Fuerte Tiuna. He was charged with illegal assembly, obstruction of the street, resisting authority, and possession of inflammable substances. He was required to sign in every fifteen days at the courts until his case was heard. Rojas told Human Rights Watch after his release that he had never participated in the protests, which he didn’t agree with.

The parents of Rodrigo Luis Alegrett Salazar, a twenty-one-year-old architecture student at the Universidad Santa María in Caracas, say that he gave them a similar account. Alegrett was released on March 31 from the detention facility at La Planta after all the charges against him— which included obstruction of the street, civil disobedience, and illegal possession of explosive substances—were dropped. According to members of his family, National Guardsmen arrested him during the night of February 29, near the Altamira Plaza, when he was about to catch the Metro to return home hours after participating in the demonstrations. Both his parents and his sister assert that he was beaten repeatedly with the flat side of a sabre, and doused with cold water while in National Guard custody.

Alegrett’s father, Luis Alegrett, told Human Rights Watch that, according to his son, the guardsmen beat the detainees when they were in the truck. Later in the barracks, they maltreated them physically and mentally, making them sing pro-Chavez slogans and hitting anyone who didn’t sing loudly enough. The father said that, according to his son, the guardsmen sprinkled them with powder, apparently from tear gas canisters, which irritates the skin. They didn’t let the detainees sleep or call anyone, he said. At one point, the guardsman sprayed his son and another boy with a high-pressure hose and shocked them afterwards with an electric baton.

The cases described above are consistent with reports we have received from other credible sources. The human rights NGO, Una Ventana a La Libertad, for example, reported visiting five of the detainees held with Alegrett in La Planta, on March 9. All five claimed to have been beaten while they were detained in a National Guard installation in El Paraíso. David Alejandro Amundaraín, for instance, suffered a burst eardrum allegedly as result of a beating administered by a guardsman.

Another source of information on the mistreatment of detainees was Dorindo Burgos Arias, a Spanish-born priest who was arrested by the National Guard in the demonstration on February 29 and released later that night. Burgos told Human Rights Watch that the detainees were jammed on top of one another in the truck that took them to the Guardia Nacional headquarters in El Paraíso (the 51st detachment) and that he had to shout for help because he could hardly breathe. “They shoved me into the truck like a sack of potatoes and with insults, blows and obscenities and repeating every moment, don’t raise your head, don’t look at us. They continued to insult and beat us and kept throwing more detainees on top of us. They threatened to throw a tear gas bomb in.”

Burgos reported that the guards stopped beating him when they learned he was a priest. Before releasing him, however, they made him sign a form stating that he had not been mistreated.

Félix Ernesto Farías Arias, a thirty-two-year-old psychologist and leader of Bandera Roja (a left-wing opposition party), told Human Rights Watch that he participated in anti-government demonstrations in the Candelaria district during the evening of March 2. After the Caracas municipal police (Policaracas) and DISIP police in plain clothes broke up the protests, Farías headed home but was stopped about 100 meters from his house by two men in civilian clothes wearing ski masks and black flak jackets, and armed with handguns. The men forced him into a van where two other men were sitting. Amid threats and insults, one man hit him on the neck to make him lower his head and forced what he took to be a ski mask on his head back to front, so that he could not see. As Farías told Human Rights Watch:


When about fifteen minutes had passed, or so it seemed, they rolled up the sleeves of my jacket, gripped both my arms hard and after a few seconds I felt the first burn, which they did without asking me anything at all. I cried out and they gave me another slap and told me to be quiet. After that burn they said, “well, you s.o.b., maybe you’d like to tell us what the **** you were doing in the Candelaria.” I replied that I was just in the protest, and they burned me again saying: “this guy thinks we’re clowns.” A long time passed—I later found out it was an hour and a half—while they burned me, insulted me, and put what I thought were pistols to my head and testicles, saying repeatedly that they were going to kill me. After the second or third burn I could make out between the shouts and threats the click of a cigarette lighter and after a few seconds they pressed the hot object to my arm.


After interrogating him about members of his organization and threatening him, eventually Farías’ captors ordered him to close his eyes, removed the ski mask and threw him from the vehicle while it was moving at a slow speed. He fell, bruising and skinning his right shoulder. Photographs published in the newspaper El Universal on March 4 show burn marks on both of Farías’ arms that look like they could have been inflicted with a fork.

The human rights ombudsman, Dr. Germán Mundaraín, has confirmed reports of ill-treatment and torture. Dr. Mundaraín told Human Rights Watch that his staff has visited all the detainees held in Caracas, and most of those held in the rest of the country, to assess their physical and mental health and collect information regarding the circumstances of their arrest and their treatment while in detention. He said his staff had received credible first-hand accounts of ill treatment of detainees in police stations, military installations, and government vehicles. The ombudsman’s preliminary report, published on March 25, states that “the security forces were responsible for excesses in the use of force, possible arbitrary detentions, mistreatment and also, torture.” The report documents seven cases of torture and seventeen cases of alleged ill-treatment, in some cases listing the injuries noted in medical examinations.

We understand that the attorney general’s office is investigating the alleged mistreatment of detainees. The attorney general, Dr. Isaías Rodríguez, reports that his office is investigating nine cases. Dr. Gilberto Venere, the public ministry official conducting the investigations, told Human Rights Watch that they involve six of the La Planta detainees: Rodrigo Luis Alegrett Salazar, José Ramón Merlo Rojas, Heber Gustavo Prado, Angel Daviott, José Rafael Peralta Medina, and David Alejandro Amandaraín. Complaints filed by three adolescents that members of the National Guard tortured them after their arrest in Caracas on March 1 are also under investigation. Dr. Venere told Human Rights Watch that he had taken statements from the victims, ordered medical examinations, and is now trying to establish which officers participated in the arrest and custody of these detainees. He will question these officers once they are identified.

Human Rights Watch welcomes these steps. We urge you to ensure that the investigations are thorough and impartial, and that their findings are used to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations. We also urge you to ensure that any police or military personnel being prosecuted for these crimes be immediately suspended from service. In order to prevent future violations, we strongly recommend that you issue instructions to all the security forces that abusive treatment and torture will not be tolerated under any circumstances, and that officers who engage in these practices will be fired and face criminal prosecution. To ensure that your position on this issue is widely disseminated, we would encourage you to make these instructions public on your television program.

Thank you for you attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

José Miguel Vivanco

Cc: Dr. José Vicente Rangel, Vice-President of the Republic
Cc: Dr. Jesús Arnaldo Pérez, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Cc: Gen. Jorge García Carneiro, Minister of Defense
Cc: Gen. Lucas Rincón Romero, Minister of the Interior and Justice
Cc: Dr. Isaías Rodríguez, Attorney General of the Republic
Cc: Dr. Jesse Chacón, Minister of Communication and Information
Cc: Dr. Germán Mundaraín, Human Rights Ombudsman

The guy who criticises the author has actually conferred to him the great honor of not being classified as a member of this disgraceful Brazilian intelligentsia.

He is not therefore to be held accountable for the social ills these brilliant anti-American intellectuals have caused to their nation.

Congratulations to the author of this great article!

Human Rights Watch Investigate Killings of Opposition Supporters in Venezuela

(Washington, D.C., February 19, 2003) - The government of Hugo Chávez should carry out a thorough and impartial investigation into the abduction and murder of four opposition supporters whose bodies were found on February 16 and 17, Human Rights Watch said

The circumstances strongly suggest that these were political killings," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "The government must launch a prompt and impartial investigation into this vicious crime, and must guarantee the safety of the reported witness to the killings."

Darwin Arguello, an army soldier, Angel Salas, a navy corporal, and Félix Pinto, an airman, were reportedly abducted together in Caracas during the night of February 15. The following day, police discovered Pinto's body and that of a twenty-eight-year-old woman, Zaida Perozo López, close to a highway in the state of Miranda, some forty kilometers east of Caracas.

The bodies of Arguello and Salas were discovered nearby a day later. All four had been bound, gagged with tape and shot repeatedly.

A fourteen-year-old girl, whose name has not been revealed, is believed to have witnessed at least one of the killings and to have been shot and left for dead. She is recovering in a hospital.

Arguello, Salas, and Pinto had joined a protest by dissident military officers against the Chávez government and had participated in opposition gatherings in the Plaza Altamira, a square where anti-Chávez activists have been camped for more than three months. Zaida Perozo is also reported to have frequented the square.

A witness to the abductions said that he had seen the victims being forced by men wearing ski-masks into two vehicles a short distance away from the Plaza Altamira.

The political situation in Venezuela remains tense in the wake of a two-month general strike called by the opposition Coordinadora Democrática, the business group Fedecámeras, and the country's largest union federation. President Chavez has rejected opposition demands for a constitutional reform to permit early elections, and has threatened tough measures against the strikers and against private television networks that supported the strike.

At least seven people have been killed and scores injured in street protests since December 2002, but there have been no confirmed reports of extrajudicial executions of opposition or government supporters.

Quote, At least seven people have been killed and scores injured in street protests since December 2002.

In 4 years of civil unrest using extreme tactics, which if to occur in the US would be defined as terrorism, 7 dead seems like a very low figure.

How many people have been 'accidentlly' killed by the state in the US in the same time span?
In Saudi
In the UK
In Iraq
etc etc

A must read for every right wing pinhead:

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

May 7, 2004

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are deeply disturbed by the photos of the treatment of prisoners by U.S. soldiers and interrogators and welcome your public condemnation of those acts. But more than statements are required. We write to urge you to take decisive and immediate action to address a problem that we believe is not an isolated incident, but rather illustrates a dangerous and illegal system of interrogation and detention in use by the United States in many places around the world. As representatives of a number of major human rights organizations we request a meeting with you on an urgent basis to discuss our recommendations for dealing with this problem.

For the past year and a half, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Newsday, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and other leading newspapers have repeatedly quoted unnamed U.S. intelligence officials boasting about the use of torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners. Numerous detainees have been killed or attempted suicide in custody in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay prompting unprecedented expressions of concern by the International Committee of the Red Cross; suspects have been turned over to the foreign intelligence services of countries, such as Syria, with records of brutal torture; the ICRC has also specifically expressed concern about conditions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq; and now, the US military's own inquiry has found "systemic and illegal abuse of detainees" at Abu Ghraib.

These incidents occurred across continents and over many months, but they are nevertheless linked. As Cofer Black, the head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, told Congress in September 2002: "There was a before 9/11, and there was an after 9/11 .... After 9/11 the gloves come off." Since then, intelligence officials have said repeatedly that they have a mandate to obtain information by "breaking" prisoners through a combination of pain and humiliation, if not outright torture. The sexual humiliation of prisoners now documented at Abu Ghraib was extreme, but not new. More than a year ago, The New York Times quoted prisoners held in Afghanistan saying that they were kept naked most of the time. Likewise, there have been numerous reports of female guards and interrogators used in a deliberate attempt to humiliate and degrade prisoners.

For more than a year, the undersigned organizations and others have repeatedly asked you and senior officials in your Administration to act promptly and forcefully to publicly repudiate the statements of intelligence officials and to assure that the treatment of detainees is consistent with international humanitarian law. We particularly asked that you provide access to detention centers, release the results of investigations and take other steps to ensure greater transparency of the detention process.

Last June, human rights groups welcomed your pledge that the United States would lead by example in the fight against torture. Yet whatever steps your administration may have taken to implement that pledge have been inadequate to end torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners and to dispel the apparent belief among U.S. interrogators and guards that brutality and degradation are acceptable in the quest for information. The events at Abu Ghraib now in the headlines are the latest evidence of an interrogation and detention system that appears to be out of control and of inadequate action to match your pledges, not the isolated misdeeds of a few individuals allegedly acting without authorization.

This pattern of conduct has caused extraordinary damage to the cause of human rights around the world, as well as to the United States and to its ability to conduct foreign policy successfully, from Iraq to the global campaign against terrorism.

Extraordinary action on your part is now required to begin to repair this damage and, at long last, bring an end to this pattern of torture and cruel treatment. You have stated in eloquent terms that "human dignity is non-negotiable," but you have tolerated a U.S. system of interrogation that is specifically designed to degrade, humiliate and destroy the human dignity of prisoners to obtain information. In recent days, U.S. officials in Iraq have announced a welcome prohibition on the use of a number of "stress" interrogation tactics. You should follow through on these announcements by completely banning the use of the "stress and duress" tactics and incommunicado detention throughout the world.

The choice is not about whether to express your abhorrence over the events at Abu Ghraib and to investigate them. The choice is whether you dismiss them as the actions of "a few bad apples" while continuing an interrogation and detention system that is cruel and illegal, or act forcefully to end the "stress and duress" system of incommunicado interrogation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, or anywhere that people are held in U.S. custody. This system violates both the Constitution and international law, including the solemn pledges your father made when he sought Senate approval of the Convention Against Torture.

We ask you to take immediate actions to establish clear prohibitions on illegal and inappropriate interrogation and detention methods backed by strong penalties; mandate strong enforcement mechanisms, including access for independent monitors; and provide for public review and full disclosure of interrogation practices and the records of investigations. Our specific recommendations for accomplishing these goals are attached.

We appreciate your interest in our concerns and your consideration of our recommendations. We hope that we will be able to arrange a meeting with you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
William Schulz
Amnesty International USA

Gay McDougall
Global Rights

Michael Posner
Human Rights First

Ken Roth
Human Rights Watch

Louise Kantrow
International League for Human Rights

Felice D. Gaer
Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights

Robin Phillips
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

Len Rubenstein
Physicians for Human Rights USA

Todd Howland
RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights

And another, this time Amnesty International:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, United Kingdom
Tel: Int. Code: 44 (20) 7413 5500. UK Code: 020 7413 5500. Fax: Int. Code: 44 (20) 7956 1157. UK Code: 020 7056 1157
E-Mail: amnestyis@amnesty.org Web: http://www.amnesty.org



BY FAX ONLY
George W Bush
The President
The White House
Office of the President
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
USA 20 February 2002

Ref.: TG AMR 51/2002.28



Dear Mr President

I am writing to draw your urgent attention to the case of Alexander Williams, who is facing execution in Georgia in violation of international law. He was due to be put to death this evening, but yesterday the state Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a stay of execution to allow it more time to consider the case. The execution is now scheduled for 25 February. Amnesty International urges you to take the opportunity opened up by this reprieve to make an intervention in this case in the interests of justice and decency, and the rep**ation of your country.
Alexander Williams was 17 years old at the time of the crime -- the murder of 16-year-old Aleta Carol Bunch in 1986. International law prohibits the use of the death penalty against child offenders -- people who were under 18 at the time of the offence. This principle is enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In August 2000, the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights affirmed that ''the imposition of the death penalty on those aged under 18 at the time of the commission of the offence is contrary to customary international law.'' It is a principle that is almost universally respected outside the United States.

In your Radio Address to the Nation on 16 February, in anticipation of your visit to China on 21 and 22 February, you stated that you would be expressing your hope to the Chinese government that their country ''will embrace the universal demands of human dignity... and the rights and value of every life.'' It is perhaps an appropriate moment then, as you visit China in the days leading up to Alexander Williams's scheduled execution, to reflect upon the USA's shameful record on the use of the death penalty against child offenders. China, which accounts for the majority of the world's judicial executions each year, amended its Criminal Law in March 1997 to abolish the use of the death penalty against defendants who were under 18 at the time of the crime. It was a step that left your country yet more isolated on this fundamental principle of international human rights law and placed an even greater obligation on the US Government to ensure that the United States makes the same move.

However, since China amended its law in this way, the USA has accounted for nine of the 15 executions of child offenders known in the world during this period. Three of the other documented executions were carried out in Iran, one in Democratic Republic of Congo, and two in Pakistan. In December last year, President Musharraf announced to Amnesty International that he would commute the death sentences of all child offenders on death row in his country in line with legislation enacted in 2000 abolishing this use of the death penalty. While Amnesty International recognizes that you do not have the same power of commutation in relation to condemned prisoners in individual US states, we have little doubt that an appeal for clemency from you to the Georgia authorities would carry great weight.

Amnesty International also draws your attention to the fact that Alexander Williams has been diagnosed with serious mental illness since he has been on death row, including paranoid schizophrenia. He has been forcibly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs, which raises serious questions of medical ethics and doubts about whether he would be considered legally sane in the absence of such medication. In any event, his execution would fly in the face of repeated resolutions by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights calling on retentionist countries not to impose the death penalty, or carry it out, on anyone suffering from ''any form of mental disorder''.

At his trial, Alexander Williams was represented by a lawyer who failed to investigate substantial mitigating evidence to present to the jury. In 2000, five of the surviving eight jurors from the trial signed affidavits saying that if they had been presented with evidence of Alexander Williams's mental illness and history of abuse they would not have voted for imposition of the death penalty.

We submit that once again the human rights rep**ation of your country is at stake as a result of its violation of international standards in pursuit of the death penalty. This particular case has led to widespread international concern. Earlier today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, called for Alexander Williams's death sentence to be commuted. She pointed to his age at the time of the crime, as well as the evidence of his mental illness and of his inadequate legal representation. Her statement followed earlier appeals from the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has issued ''precautionary measures'' to your administration calling for the execution of Alexander Williams not to go ahead until the Commission has examined the case. In addition, on 15 February, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe appealed to the Board to halt the execution ''in the name of human decency''. His appeal came a day after the European Union called for clemency.

We urge you to make a clear and public intervention in this case by urging the Georgia authorities to commute the death sentence of Alexander Williams.

Yours sincerely



For Irene Khan, Secretary General

Groups like Human Rights Watch and other civil/human rights organizations write letters like the ones above to Bush and Chavez and other nations' leaders all the time, and good for them! Like I said, don't stop criticizing politicians and don't stop demanding human rights! There is much to criticize. But put Chavez in perspective. Bush is a far, far worse abuser of human rights. Saudi Arabia, our "ally" is far, far worse. Many other leaders of nations are far, far worse. Are you as critical of them? Why do people like Zimmermann obsess over Chavez all the time and not right wing leaders who are truly dangerous, tyrannical bastards? Chavez is 100 times better than what Venezuela had before. But for some reason, people like Zimmermann and other right wing bastards prefer ruthless right wing dictators to a populist democrat like Chavez (surprise, surprise).

From the New York Times this week:

"Murder Charges for 3 G.I.'s in Iraq
By THOM SHANKER and SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: June 20, 2006

"Three American soldiers suspected of killing three detainees in Iraq and then threatening a soldier with death if he reported the shootings have been charged with premeditated murder and obstructing justice, Army officials said Monday."

Let's talk about a dangerous abuse of power in the world. The conversation should start with my own country.

An open letter to President George W. Bush on the question of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment

George W. Bush
The President
The White House
Office of the President
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
USA
7 May 2004

Dear Mr President,

The world is watching as your administration responds to the most recent evidence of torture and degrading treatment of Iraqis at the hands of US personnel. While Amnesty International welcomes official statements that the allegations are being taken seriously, the ultimate proof of this will be in actions not words. In this regard, your government’s record in the context of "war on terror" detentions gives cause for concern, as fundamental principles of law and human rights continue to be violated despite the administration’s stated commitment to these principles.

Amnesty International recalls your statement on 26 June 2003, made on the occasion of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, in which you said that "the United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example". The organization urges you now to ensure that the USA fully meets its international obligations, including as a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment, publish all findings, prosecute all perpetrators, compensate all victims, and prevent any future torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. We call on the USA to open the doors of its detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, and at undisclosed locations elsewhere, to independent bodies, including visits by United Nations Special Rapporteurs.

In July 2003, Amnesty International sent your government a Memorandum on Concerns Relating to Law and Order in Iraq. The Memorandum included allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Iraqi detainees by US and Coalition forces.(1) The allegations included beatings, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, hooding, and prolonged forced standing and kneeling. We have never received a response or any indication from the administration or the Coalition Provisional Authority that an investigation took place. Likewise, we have never received a response to the Memorandum to the US Government on the rights of people in US custody in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay which we sent to you in April 2002, and which also raised concerns about questions and allegations of torture and ill-treatment.(2)

The military investigation in Iraq headed by Major General Antonio Taguba found "systemic and illegal abuse of detainees" in the Abu Ghraib facility (Baghdad Central Confinement Facility, BCCF) between August 2003 and February 2004, and concluded that soldiers had "committed egregious acts and grave breaches of international law at Abu Ghraib/BCCF and Camp Bucca, Iraq". Amnesty International is concerned that the Taguba report was not intended for public release, and that the administration’s current response has only come once the report and the photographic evidence came into the public domain.

At the Department of Defense news briefing on 4 May 2004, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said that he was "stunned" by the allegations. In one of several statements apparently downplaying the seriousness of the allegations, however, he added that his "impression is that what has been charged so far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture". Amnesty International stresses that the "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuse" found by the Taguba investigation constitute acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in violation of international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 147, Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949) lists "torture or inhuman treatment", without distinguishing among the two in terms of gravity, among their "grave breaches". These are war crimes and are the most serious offences that every High Contracting Party to the Conventions must prevent and suppress, including by prosecuting the perpetrators. The incidents recorded in the Taguba report include:
Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet; Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees; Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing; Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time; Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear; Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped; Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them; Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture; Writing "I am a Rapest" (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked; Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture; A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee; Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee.

Major General Taguba also found "credible" evidence that the following abuses took place:

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol; Pouring cold water on naked detainees; Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; Threatening male detainees with rape; Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.
The Taguba report emphasized that the findings were "amply" supported by confessions from suspected perpetrators, statements from detainees and witnesses, as well as "extremely graphic photographic evidence".

The report found that there was a failure to establish clear training, procedures and oversight on interrogation and treatment of detainees, and "that very little instruction or training" was provided to military police personnel on the applicable rules of the Geneva Conventions.

At the 4 May Pentagon briefing to respond to the allegations, Secretary Rumsfeld maintained that "the fact is, this is an exception", and added that "there may be things that we can do that would be helpful in helping the world understand that this is an exceptional situation; it is not a pattern or a practice." Although he acknowledged that there "are allegations of abuse in various other locations", he added that "at any given time there are always allegations and charges of abuse in detention facilities" and that there "is a pattern and a practice of terrorists to allege abuse".

A pattern of abuse

During the past two years, consistent allegations of brutality and cruelty by US agents against detainees, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been presented by Amnesty International and others at the highest levels of the US Government, including the White House, the Department of Defense, and the Department of State.

Numerous people who have been held in the US Air Bases in Bagram and Kandahar in Afghanistan have spoken of the torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment to which they say they were subjected in US custody in Afghanistan.(3) For example, former Guantánamo detainee Wazir Mohammad recalled to Amnesty International in February 2004 his detention in US custody in Afghanistan in 2002. He spoke of the excessive and cruel use of shackles and handcuffs, sleep deprivation, and of being forced to crawl on his knees from his cell to the interrogation room, a crawl of about 10 minutes. His testimony echoes that of numerous other former detainees.

As with hundreds if not thousands of other detainees, during his whole time in Bagram and Kandahar, Wazir Mohammad was held incommunicado. He was given no opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of his detention. He had no lawyer, no access to his family, and was not brought before any court, including the "competent tribunal" envisaged by the Geneva Conventions to determine prisoner status in time of war. He never met a delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) either. During more than a year in Guantánamo he says he met an ICRC delegate once, on the first day.

Last month in Yemen, Amnesty International spoke with another former Guantánamo prisoner, Walid al-Qadasi. He recalled his time in a secret detention facility in Kabul, interrogated by US agents. He said that the first night of interrogation had been coined by the prisoners as "the black night". He told Amnesty International that: "They cut our clothes with scissors, left us naked and took photos of us, before they gave us Afghan clothes to wear. They then handcuffed our hands behind our backs, blindfolded us and started interrogating us…They threatened me with death, accusing me of belonging to al-Qa’ida. They put us in an underground cell measuring approximately two metres by three metres. There were ten of us in the cell. We spent three months in the cell… During the three month period in the cell, we were not allowed outside into the open air." He alleged that the detainees were subjected to sleep deprivation, including by the use of loud music.

Incommunicado detention facilitates torture and ill-treatment. In his report to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2004, the Special Rapporteur on torture "reiterates the recommendation of his two predecessors and urges all States to declare incommunicado detention illegal". The Special Rapporteur added that "incommunicado detention is aggravated when individuals are held in secret places of detention" and that "it should be a punishable offence for any official to hold a person in a secret and/or unofficial place of detention".

The USA cannot claim to be leading the struggle against torture by example, when the example it is setting is one of using prolonged incommunicado detention, including in undisclosed locations. Transparency, access and accountability are the most effective measures against torture and ill-treatment. The USA should employ these measures and truly lead by example.

Amnesty International has previously expressed concern about the mixed messages which the US government has sent regarding its commitment to international human rights standards. In June 2003, the administration issued a strong statement that government policy was to "comply with all of its legal obligations in its treatment of detainees, and in particular with legal obligations prohibiting torture".(4) At the same time it has failed to comply with the Geneva Conventions with regard to the Guantànamo detainees.(5) When the USA unilaterally decides whether or not to affirm the rights of individuals protected by international treaties and agreements, this may send a message to troops and others that the government is set on a course in which international agreements can be ignored or set aside at the discretion of the executive for the sake of expediency.

Intelligence and interrogation

Amnesty International has also recently spoken to a person who has worked in Guantánamo who has said that most if not all the detainees he had contact with there (approximately 40) had alleged that they were physically abused in Kandahar or Bagram. Based on this knowledge, this person expressed no surprise at the recent evidence emerging from Iraq, and stated that the abuse in Afghanistan appeared to be part of softening up detainees for interrogation and detention.

The Taguba report presents evidence that the abuse allegedly inflicted on the detainees in Iraq followed requests from military intelligence and other government interrogators that the military police (MP) guards in the prison "set physical and mental conditions for favourable interrogation of witnesses". Guards alleged that military intelligence personnel had given instructions including "loosen this guy up for us", "make sure he has a bad night"; "make sure he gets the treatment"; and "Good job, they’re breaking down real fast. They answer every question. They’re giving out good information, Finally, and Keep up the good work. Stuff like that."

At a Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing in Iraq on 4 May 2004, Major General Geoffrey Miller stated that while physical contact between interrogator and detainees is prohibited, "sleep deprivation and stress positions and all that could be used. But they must be authorized". The United Nations Committee against Torture, the expert body established by the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has expressly held that restraining detainees in very painful positions, hooding, threats, and prolonged sleep deprivation are methods of interrogation which violate the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Amnesty International notes that Major General Miller commanded the Guantánamo detention operation until he was recently put in charge of detainee operations in Iraq. The Taguba report notes that from "31 August to 9 September 2003, MG Miller led a team of personnel experienced in strategic interrogation to [Iraq] to review current Iraq Theater ability to rapidly exploit internees for actionable intelligence". The Taguba report also noted that Major General Miller’s team had stated that "it is essential that the guard force be actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful exploitation of the internees." It seems that the alleged torture and ill-treatment at the centre of the Taguba report began around this time.

The Taguba report holds that "Military Police should not be involved with setting "favourable conditions" for subsequent interviews. These actions…clearly run counter to the smooth operation of a detention facility."

Access for human rights monitors

The US administration has denied access to independent human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, to places of detention. We again recall your statement of 26 June 2003, promising the USA’s commitment to eradicating torture, in which you said: "Notorious human rights abusers, including, among others, Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Zimbabwe, have long sought to shield their abuses from the eyes of the world by staging elaborate deceptions and denying access to international human rights monitors." We urge you to ensure such access is granted now, to all US detention facilities.

While the International Committee of the Red Cross has had access to detainees, even this access is reported not to have been full and ongoing in some instances, including in Bagram Air Base, and at undisclosed locations elsewhere. In this regard, we are concerned by the following entry in the Taguba report:
The various detention facilities operated by the 800th MP Brigade have routinely held persons brought to them by Other Government Agencies (OGAs) without accounting for them, knowing their identities, or even the reason for their detention. The Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib called these detainees "ghost detainees." On at least one occasion, the 320th MP Battalion at Abu Ghraib held a handful of "ghost detainees" (6- for OGAs that they moved around within the facility to hide them from a visiting International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) survey team. This maneuver was deceptive, contrary to Army Doctrine, and in violation of international law.
Deaths in custody

Two men who died in US custody in December 2002 in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan had not been seen by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The official autopsies recorded the cause of their deaths as "homicide" and found "blunt force injuries" in both cases. Amnesty International was informed by Chief of Public Affairs at the US Army Criminal Investigation Command on 6 May 2004 that the investigations into their deaths are continuing but that the investigation "is close to completion". It is now 17 months since the two men died. Investigations into another dozen cases of deaths in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan are reported to be underway.

Amnesty International repeats here one of the allegations made in the journal of Staff Sergeant Ivan L. Frederick concerning a death in custody of an Iraqi prisoner in Abu Ghraib: "They stressed him out so bad that the man passed away. They put his body in a body bag and packed him in ice for approximately 24 hours in the shower… The next day the medics came in and put his body on a stretcher, placed a fake IV in his arm and took him away." Frederick stated that the prisoner had never been recorded in the prison system "and therefore never had a number".

We emphasise that all deaths in custody must be investigated and that the results of all these investigations must be made public. If anyone is found to have died as a result of torture, his or her dependants would be entitled to compensation, under Article 14 of the Convention against Torture. Those found responsible must be brought to justice.

Amnesty International’s recommendations

Amnesty International urges the US Government to:

- investigate the allegations at Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq, and other detention facilities to establish whether war crimes have been committed and ensure accountability at the highest level;

- bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and other violations in accordance with the USA’s obligations under international and US law. Such investigations should not just cover the direct perpetrators, but must include the higher chain of command responsibility;

- initiate investigations into all other allegations of abuse of detainees held in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere;

- suspend from duties any public officials involved pending the outcome of the investigation and any subsequent legal or disciplinary proceedings;

- ensure, through appropriate policies, training and oversight, that torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment will not be tolerated. All detainees in US custody must be treated humanely and in accordance with US obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law;

- launch a full investigation into interrogation practices of detainees in US custody wherever they are held around the world and make the findings public;

- prohibit all techniques during interrogations which violate the prohibition against torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. These include such techniques as holding detainees naked, making them assume painful positions, sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme cold, and hooding;

- ensure that private contractors uphold US and international law, and that they receive adequate training on human rights practices and protections.

- end the practice of incommunicado detention. Provide immediate access to detainees to their families and lawyers, ensure regular access to the ICRC in all places of detention and access for independent human rights organizations, including representatives of Amnesty International, into detention facilities;

- invite the United Nations experts covering torture and arbitrary detention to immediately visit US detention facilities in Iraq and wherever else they may seek such a visit.

- make use of the services of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission provided for by Article 90 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions to look into the allegations of abuse and related US investigations.

- ensure that any victims of torture or inhumane treatment receive full reparations, including compensation, as required under international law.
I trust that you will give due consideration to the concerns raised in this letter.

Yours sincerely


Irene Khan

Secretary General
cc Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of State Colin Powell

********

(1) http://web.amnesty.org/library...E141572003

(2) http://web.amnesty.org/library...R510532002

(3) See USA: The threat of a bad example: Undermining international standards as "war on terror" detentions continue, AI Index: AMR 51/114/2003, August 2003, http://web.amnesty.org/library...R511142003 USA: Undermining security: Violations of human dignity, the rule of law and the National Security Strategy in "war on terror" detentions, AI Index: AMR 51/061/2004, 9 April 2004
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510612004

(4) Letter to US Senator Patrick J Leahy from William J. Haynes, dated 25 June 2003

(5) Amnesty International and others, including the ICRC, have repeatedly expressed concern that none of the detainees has been brought before a "competent tribunal" to determine his status, as required by Article 5 of the Third Geneva Convention.

AI Index: AMR 51/078/2004 7 May 2004

Over the last approximately seven years since Chavez: In a country of 25 million, 1.4 million learned to read and write within a year and a half, while three million Venezuelans previously excluded from education due to poverty enrolled in the education system. Seventy percent of the population now enjoys access to free health care while 45 percent of the people receive subsidized food via cooperatives, special food programs and government distribution centers.

These successes make the UN-backed Millennium Summit goal of reducing global poverty by fifty percent by 2015 and of providing primary education for all by the same year seem paltry. At the actual pace of change realized in the years since the summit, world hunger will not be halved until 2215 while universal primary education will not be realized until 2100.

"During Chavez' seven year rule eight elections and referendums have been held with an election for the National Assembly scheduled for later this year, making Venezuela an example of an authentic participatory democracy.

"Beginning with what are called 'Misiones' or Missions in 1999, Chavez has fomented an incredible number of grass roots activities among the 80 percent of Venezuela's population that has been historically marginalized. The early and most important missions focused on education and medical help. The medical missions are generally comprised of two doctors, most of them from Cuba. The doctors are sent to rural communities and shanty towns to provide health care and to help people organize around their health needs. The educational missions, part of broader "barrio adentro" programs are comprised of both national and locally trained teams that work to establish programs to deal with illiteracy as well as getting adults and younger people back into schooling programs to advance their careers. Neither the health nor the educational programs are run by the Ministries of Health or Education. They as well as additional missions involved in rural land reform, job training, etc. are funded and guided directly by national policy teams that are accountable to Hugo Chavez.

"Simultaneously the cooperative movement has boomed: Today there are over 70,000 cooperatives of all types operating through out the country. Another very important initiative orchestrated from below are the 'Comites de Tierra.' In a country where the vast majority of the population is urbanized, over 65 percent of the urban dwellers do not have formal land titles. The Comites, comprised of 150 to 200 heads of household each, are setting about the process of conducting land surveys and securing titles to their homes. There are now about 5000 Comites operating throughout Venezuela. These Comites have little or nothing to do with the Housing Ministry. Their activities are guided by the National Technical Office of Lands whose director, Ivan Martinez, is appointed by Chavez."

You can't tell me that what Venezuela had before Chavez was better. Venezuela is much more democratic than it has ever been, thanks to Chavez. End of story.

In the meantime, check the direction of democracy where you live.

the dictatorial rtegimes wil back becaus a simple thing ont the dictatorship in my country the taxes was over 25,26 per cent,today on a democratic regime with large freedom to speak to do many things the taxes rol over 46 at 53 per cent,everione can se an compare ,we wil turn our mind like venezuelas because democracy are over our money and not give nothing back.it wil be a question of numbers even the rich are payng more taxes and the people hungry dont think in orther choices tyhey think on eat and meat.the democraci is robing the country of my sons]

See: Rigging the Rule of Law: Judicial Independence Under Siege in Venezuela. Human Rights Watch, June 2004, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/20...zu8423.htm
See also: Vivanco, José Miguel; Court-Packing Law Threatens Venezuelan Democracy. Human Rights Watch, 7 June 2004, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/20...15_txt.htm See also: Chavez Allies Pack Supreme Court. Human Rights Watch, 14 December 2004, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/20...zu9864.htm See also: Venezuela: Rights Lawyer Faces Judicial Persecution – Criminal Investigation Launched to Intimidate Critic of Government’s Rights Record. Human Rights Watch, 5 April 2005, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/20...3_txt.htm. See also: Venezula: Court Orders Trial of Civil Society Leaders. Human Rights Watch , 8 July 2005, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/20...u11299.htm See also: Venezuela's Supreme Court Upholds Prior Censorship and "Insult Laws". Human Rights Watch, 18 July 2003, at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/20...zu6239.htm

Has this left-wing imbecile ever read the article of Professor Zimmermann regarding the military in Brazil?

If he had so, then he would not say that he is biased to the right.

The BIASED person here is YOU!!!

The guy who loves President Chavez can't deny all the human rights violations of the Venezuelan government.

So he goes instead to argue that this can also be done by the U.S. government.

This is argument is absolutely ridiculous.

TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT!

Correct. Two wrongs don't make a right. If you weren't an illiterate fool, you wouldn't accuse me of arguing that. Go back and read, if you can; or go back to school, fool.

I've read many, many things Zimmermann has written, and he's a cryptofascist prick.

He's a deranged megalomaniac. One should pray for Venezuela. End of story.

I've read many, many things Zimmermann has written, and he's a true democrat and a great intellectual.

quote:

"Taguba report include:
Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet; Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees"

Well that sure beats the hell out of televised beheadings doesn't it??

Ya know these bleeding heart f**king liberals will be the end of the united states if we let them. They're worse than the f**king enemy.

You're in a f**king WAR...where when THEY catch our guys there is no f**king prison camp, there is no geneva convention, they're murdered, plain a simple. And innocent journalists are being beheaded!!!

Ya know what I say to Irene Khan???

GO f**k YOURSELF!

The above teen needs to masturbate

No teen jackoff, a '91 gulf war veteran.

And you can go f**k yourself as well!

The emotionally stunted intellectually retarded dribbling dumbo above does not need to masturbate he needs thearapy

I bet $10 he never stops masturbateing when on the internet - his problems lie much much deeper.

well, first of all, you truly show your intellectual superiority by using sophisticated words such as "dumbo"....LOL.

And the people that need therapy are those that think war is a f**king tea party.

Lol f**king war dribble lol must stop masturbating lol punk idiot dribble drool lol f**k LOL f**k yourself liberal - repeat to till sleep..

and there it is...the leftist "mindset".

Get help, boy.

LOL he he punk lol HA HA leftist idiot dribble dribble - Look its woken up.

I JUST WALKED INTO A ROOM FULL OF LEFT WING INTERNATIONALMARXISTS AND HEARD THESE IMPOTENT FAGS IN THEIR DELUSIONAL FANTACYS UNITE IN THEIR CONVICTIONS THAT THE U.S.A. IS THE ENEMY .THIS IS VERY SAD INDEED PERHAPS IN THEIR LACK OF PERSONAL IDENTITY THEY FIND COMFORT IN THEIR SHRINKING MEMBERS WHEN THEY GET TOGETHER AND CONVINCE THEMSELVES THAT THEY ARE TRULY INTELLECTUAL. THEIR LIES AND PROPOGANDA ARE TAKEN OUT OF AN IDEA "MARXISM" WHICH HISTORY HAS PROVEN IS BANKRUPT! CRIMINAL,AND IMPOTENT .MUCH LIKE THEY THEMSELVES!!THEIR TIRED OLD WORDS ARE FOOLISH AND BORING ,MUCH LIKE THEMSELVES .THEY ROT AWAY IN THEIR IMPOTENCE.AS WE CELEBRATE THEIR INSIGNIFICANCE .THEIR WORDS GO ON DEAF EARS.YOUR BULLs**t IS INSULTING AND YOU NEED A GOOD ASS WHIPPING

Hey, you forgot to say:
Amerrica uber alles.

Why many people think that Chavez is benefitiating poors in Venezuela if there are more poor people than in 1,999, before his gov?

Just go to Venezuela and see what I mean: that country has no future, people is not working, they just want that Chavez solves all their problems without working themselves. Each time I go to Venezuela I find a poorer country!