Press Release Aug 31, 2016 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Arbitrary Arrest of Opposition Leader HRF calls on Venezuela’s government to stop fabricating absurd evidence on prodemocracy activists, to provide information on Goicoechea’s whereabouts and to release him immediately.
Press Release Aug 18, 2016 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Court Proceedings; Requests Release of Political Prisoner Human Rights Foundation (HRF) reiterates its February 2014 designation of López as a prisoner of conscience and calls on Venezuela’s authoritarian regime to release him immediately.
Press Release Jul 11, 2016 Infographic: Repression in Venezuela Violence is rampant, the media is censored, members of the authentic opposition are in prison, corruption is out of control, there is a historic food and supply shortage, blackouts occur daily, the currency has been destroyed by hyperinflation, and a militaristic regime has slowly taken over all key functions of government and civil society.
Press Release Jun 24, 2016 OAS: HRF Welcomes Long-Overdue Session Assessing Venezuela’s Democratic Erosion During his opening remarks, Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the OAS, lamented: “The people of Venezuela are faced with a government that is no longer accountable to them.
Press Release Jun 17, 2016 HRF Met with OAS Chief in the Dominican Republic El-Hage praised Almagro’s moral courage and congratulated him for activating the Inter-American Democratic Charter’s (IADC) 2001 democracy clause, which could lead to the suspension of the government of Venezuela from participation in all organs of the OAS.
Press Release Jun 9, 2016 HRF to Almagro: For 8 Years We’ve Urged Suspension of Venezuelan Regime from OAS The session may lead to the suspension of Venezuela’s Maduro’s regime from the OAS for violating the organization’s rules making democratic governance a requirement for participation.
Press Release Apr 21, 2016 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Prison Sentence Against Journalist Who Denounced Corruption Natera Febres was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $20,000 for reporting on a corruption case linked to the state-owned company CVG Ferrominera Orinoco and to Venezuela’s Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence.
Press Release Apr 12, 2016 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Large-scale, Illegal Wiretapping of Political Opposition A recent journalistic investigation revealed that a group of intelligence agents from the Strategic Center for the Security and Protection of the Homeland (CESPPA), acting under direct instructions from President Nicolás Maduro, has unlawfully wiretapped phone conversations, and hacked text messages and email communications of prominent opposition figures such as Henrique Capriles, María Corina Machado, Henry Ramos Allup, and Julio Borges.
Press Release Jan 21, 2016 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Inhuman Treatment of Leopoldo López’s Wife and Mother Both women were told to undress in separate rooms — in the case of Mendoza, she was forced to do so in front of her two grandchildren, ages three and six — and were verbally abused in an attempt to punish and humiliate them.
Press Release Jan 6, 2016 HRF to OAS Secretary-General: Apply the Democracy Clause in Venezuela HRF calls on Almagro to summon an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council of the OAS in order to analyze the situation in Venezuela and call for a peaceful return to democratic rule in that country.
News Sep 23, 2015 HRF pres. on the arrest of his cousin, Leopoldo Lopez, in Venezuela HRF president Thor Halvorssen published the following article in The Daily Beast upon the jailing of his cousin, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López, after a sham trial engineered to eliminate him as a political threat.
News Sep 17, 2015 Miami Herald reports on Leopoldo Lopez’s arbitrary arrest The trial and conviction of opposition leader Leopoldo López by a kangaroo court in Caracas last week is more than just another outrage by the political gang running Venezuela.
Press Release Sep 16, 2015 Inter-American Court: HRF Welcomes Judgment in Favor of RCTV The court’s decision holds that the Venezuelan state violated the freedom of expression of RCTV’s shareholders and employees, as well as that of the “Venezuelan people, who were deprived of access to RCTV’s editorial line.”
News Sep 11, 2015 LA Times on Leopoldo Lopez’s sentencing Human rights organizations Friday condemned a Venezuelan court’s sentencing of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez to more than 13 years in prison for allegedly inciting violence in nationwide protests that left 43 dead in early 2014.
Press Release Sep 10, 2015 Venezuela: HRF Condemns 13-Year Prison Sentence Against Leopoldo López The judge sentenced López to 13 years and 9 months in prison—of a maximum possible of 14 years under Venezuela’s Criminal Code—after declaring him guilty of allegedly committing the crimes of arson, damages to public property, incitement to commit a crime, and conspiracy.
Press Release Aug 19, 2015 Venezuela: HRF Condemns $365 Million Lawsuit Against Independent Media In the case of the digital newspaper La Patilla—the only one so far served with the suit—Cabello is demanding $365 million in damages.
Press Release Jul 17, 2015 Venezuela: HRF Condemns Targeted Twitter Data Collection by Political Police The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns the actions of the Venezuelan National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL), in collusion with the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), that led to the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of eight Twitter users between September and October of 2014.
