IPYS: Venezuelan State infringes right to freedom of expression

"Impunity has turned the State into the main actor infringing freedom of expression" in Venezuela. "Violence against freedom of expression has been on the move for a long time. It is verbal, but mostly physical. It stems from the state apparatus and supporters of the country's leader," the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) asserted. It also urged "not to keep quiet" over these attacks.  

The warning is included in the Yearly Impunity Report 2012: Testimonies and traces of freedom of expression in Latin America and the Caribbean, released on Friday by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) network on the occasion of the International Day against Impunity.

The report indicated that some 233 violations against freedom of the press took place from 2008-2010. It included aggressions against workers of the Capriles news outlet in August 2009. The attack occurred during a peaceful demonstration against some provisions of the Organic Law on Education that may restrict freedom of expression through prior censorship. As many as 12 casualties were reported on that day.

The report, which referred to 12 Latin American countries, noted that the judicial powers in the region are "extremely dysfunctional." The lack of specialization of their officials and the lack of specialized mechanisms to monitor human rights violations, especially those violations perpetrated against highly vulnerable people, including journalists, lead to a high impunity rates.

The report is available in Spanish on http://ifex.org/americas/alc/es/impunidad2012/pdf/informe_2012.pdf.

Translated by Jhean Cabrera