Venezuela expels Human Rights Watch director

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Human Rights Watch Jose Miguel Vivanco and deputy director Daniel Wilkinson. Photo: EFE

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Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the human rights situation in Venezuela had worsened in the past decade under President Hugo Chavez, particularly with regard to critics of the government.

Venezuela responded by expelling the group's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, on Thursday night, saying that he had made unacceptable remarks against the country's institutions.

Earlier, speaking at a news conference in Caracas, Vivanco, the organization’s representative for Latin America, said Chavez's government had "weakened democratic institutions" and infringed on human rights while trying to sideline the opposition and consolidate power.

"Because of the lack of a trustworthy judiciary system, Chavez's government has systematically applied discriminating policies which have limited journalists' freedom of expression, the right of workers to unionise and the capacity of people to promote human rights in Venezuela," Vivanco said.

The US-based group said in a report released on Thursday that a failed 2002 coup against Chavez had been "a pretext for a wide range of government policies that have undercut the human rights protections" in the constitution.

"President Chavez's government has used the coup d'etat since then (April 2002) to justify policies that have degraded democracy in the country," Vivanco said.

The Venezuela Information Office condemned the report, saying it provided "an incomplete and biased account" and that the government had a strong record on human rights.

"He (Jose Miguel Vivanco) has been chosen by the same ones who pay him - the (US) State Department - to come here to criticise Venezuela's democratic institutions, as he does openly here in Venezuela, presenting a deceitful untruthful report," Venezuelan lawmaker Saul Ortega said.

"Clearly, this man does not have the right qualities to come to Venezuela and if he had a minimum of seriousness left in him he would have left the country," Ortega added.

Later, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told state television "We aren't going to tolerate any foreigner coming here to try to sully the dignity" of Venezuela and its institutions.

He said Vivanco was driven to the airport and forced to leave the country immediately on a flight.

Vivanco, a Chilean who had arrived on a tourist visa, "has violated the constitution" and Venezuela's laws, he said.

Vivanco was ordered to leave along with a Human Rights Watch deputy director, U.S. citizen Daniel Wilkinson, Maduro said. He accused them of acting at the behest of the U.S. government.

It was the first such expulsion by Chavez's government. The leftist leader has threatened previously that Venezuela could expel foreigners if they come to slander his government.

A government statement read on state television said Vivanco violated the law by "attacking the institutions" of Venezuela's democracy, and "illegally interfering in the internal affairs of our country."