By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Late last week, Venezuelan officials urged Interpol to arrest Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision.  Globovision is the only Venezuelan television station still openly critical of President Hugo Chavez.  The Venezuelan Government is accusing Zuloaga of illegally storing vehicles with the intent to sell them.

Zuloaga and his son, also named Guillermo, are reported to have left the country and claim that the charges are false.  Rather, the Zuloagas claim that they are being persecuted for political purposes.  The elder Zuloaga owns a car dealership and has stated that the vehicles belong to the business.

Recently, Frank La Rue, a United Nations independent human rights expert, urged Venezuelan authorities to withdraw the warrant against Zuloagas.  La Rue echoed the sentiments of many other human rights activists when he expressed fear that the warrants are a means for the ruling government to silence political decent.  La Rue also expressed fears that the warrant illustrates a broader deterioration of expressive freedom in the country.

La Rue’s message was clear when he stated that “no Government in the world has the right to silence critics or those who oppose the State with criminal proceedings.”

The recent warrants against Zuloagas are not the only acts of intimidation committed against Globovision employees at the hands of the Chavez government.  Starting in 2001, Globovision employees have been privy to threats and harassment because they have freely exercised their expressive rights.  In 2008, the harassment and intimidation led the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to order measures to protect its employees.

The United States has also intervened in the situation out of fear that the warrants are politically motivated.  State Department spokesman Philip Crowley stated that the U.S. is “very concerned” with the warrants and that the warrants are “the latest example of the government of Venezuela’s continuing assault on the freedom of the press.”

Venezuela is a party to Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees fundamental freedom of expression.  Although the country is bound by the terms of article, the Chavez government has done little to uphold the article’s principles.

Although Le Rue has requested a meeting with the Venezuelan government to fully assess the country’s freedom of expression standards, the request remains unanswered.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Venezuela Asks Interpol To Arrest Openly Critical TV Station’s Owner – 18 June 2010

 UN News Centre – UN Expert Urges Venezuela To Cancel Arrest Warrant Against TV Executive – 17 June 2010

Yahoo News – US Concerned By Arrest Warrant For TV Network Owner in Venezuela – 14 June 2010