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More Than 100 Latin America Experts Question Human Rights Watch’s Venezuela Report

In an open letter to the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, over 100 experts on Latin America criticized the organization's recent report on Venezuela, A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela, saying that it "does not meet even the most minimal standards of scholarship, impartiality, accuracy, or credibility."


In
an open letter to the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, over
100 experts on Latin America criticized the organization's recent
report on Venezuela,
A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela,
saying that it "does not meet even the most minimal standards of
scholarship, impartiality, accuracy, or credibility." The signers
include leading academic specialists from universities in the United
States, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and a number of state
universities, and academic institutions in Argentina, Australia,
Brazil, México, the U.K., Venezuela and other countries.


December 16, 2008

Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10118-3299 USA

To the Board of Directors,

We
write to call your attention to a report published by Human Rights
Watch that does not meet even the most minimal standards of
scholarship, impartiality, accuracy, or credibility. The document, A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela,
appears to be a politically motivated essay rather than a human rights
report. Indeed, the lead author of the report, Jose Miguel Vivanco,
stated as much when he told the press just a few days after its
publication, "We did the report because we wanted to demonstrate to the
world that Venezuela is not a model for anyone…"[2]

Clearly
Mr. Vivanco is entitled to his views about Venezuela, but such
statements run counter to the mission of Human Rights Watch and indeed
any organization dedicated to the defense of human rights. By
publishing such a grossly flawed report, and acknowledging a political
motivation in doing so, Mr. Vivanco has undermined the credibility of
an important human rights organization.

We
do not make these charges lightly and we hope you will understand the
seriousness of such grave errors in judgment. As scholars who
specialize in Latin America, we rely on what are supposed to be
independent, non-partisan organizations such as Human Rights Watch for
factual information about human right abuses committed by governments
and sometimes non-governmental actors. So do many other constituencies,
including the press, government officials, and the public. It is a
great loss to civil society when we can no longer trust a source such
as Human Rights Watch to conduct an impartial investigation and draw
conclusions based on verifiable facts.

The
report makes sweeping allegations that are not backed up by supporting
facts or in some cases even logical arguments. For example, the
report's most important and prominent allegation is that
"discrimination on political grounds has been a defining feature of the
Chávez presidency." (p. 1) Yet the report does not show, or even
attempt to show, that political discrimination either increased under
the current government (as compared to past governments), or is more of
a problem in Venezuela than in any other country in the world.

What is the evidence offered for such a broad generalization?

"In
most cases, it was not possible to prove political discrimination-with
rare exceptions, citizens were given no grounds at all for the actions
taken-yet many were told informally that they were losing their jobs,
contracts, or services for having signed the
referendum petition [to recall President Chávez]. For example, in one
case reported to Human Rights Watch, a 98-year-old woman was denied
medicines that she had long received from a state development agency
because, as her family was told by the program secretary, she had
signed the referendum petition." (p.21) (Italics added).

Taking
services first, the above paragraph refers to an allegation that one
Venezuelan citizen was denied medicines for political reasons. Amazingly, this is the only alleged instance of discrimination in government services cited in the entire 230-page report. In
other words, the Barrio Adentro program has provided health services to
millions of poor Venezuelans each year since 2003, and the authors
found one allegation(as reported to the authors in a phone conversation with the nephew of the alleged victim) of discrimination involving one person.
On this basis the authors make the sweeping generalization that
"Citizens who exercised their right to call for the referendum-invoking
one of the new participatory mechanisms championed by Chávez during the
drafting of the 1999 Constitution-were threatened with retaliation and
blacklisted from some government jobs and services." (p. 10, italics added).

This
is outrageous and completely indefensible. We do not expect a report of
this nature to adhere to rigorous academic standards, but there have to
be some standards.

With
regard to employment, there is no doubt that there were cases where
individual government officials discriminated on the grounds of
employees' political beliefs. (There were also cases of discrimination
and firing of pro-government employees in the private sector, which the
report mentions in a parenthesis (p.10) and does not investigate).
However, the report does not show that there was any organized or
systematic effort to purge the government of anti-government employees.
Indeed, as anyone who is familiar with the government of Venezuela
knows, after nearly ten years since the election of President Hugo
Chávez, the civil service is still loaded with employees who are
against the government.

The
report does not demonstrate whether the firings that occurred, in both
the public and private sector, were simply the result of individual
actions in a highly polarized society in which the opposition spent at
least four years (according to opposition leader Teodoro Petkoff)[3]
trying to dislodge the government though a military overthrow. Indeed,
it is not hard to imagine that many government officials would, in such
a climate, be apprehensive about employing people who are against the
government. The report does not consider this possible cause of
observed discrimination. Of course this would not justify such
discrimination, but neither would it support the sweeping allegations
of this report, which attempts to argue that the government is using
its control over employment in the public sector in order to repress
political opposition.

Indeed,
the report's most serious allegation of discrimination in employment
concerns a case where discrimination was not based on political
partisanship, but in regards to unlawful subversion that no government
would, nor should tolerate: "In the aftermath of the oil strike, PDVSA
purged its ranks of thousands of workers who participated in the
strike." (p.29). But as anyone who was in Venezuela at the time can
attest, this was quite openly a strike to topple the government, which
the opposition had succeeded in doing less than eight months earlier.
The oil strike devastated the economy – which lost 24 percent of GDP in
the resulting recession — and came close to achieving its goal a
second time.

The
report implies that public employees, in this case oil workers should
have the right to strike for the overthrow of an elected government; we
do not support that view. It is especially dubious when that group of
employees makes up less than one percent of the labor force, and is
using its control over a strategic resource – oil revenues made up
nearly half of government revenues and 80 percent of export earnings —
to cripple the economy and thereby reverse the result of democratic
elections. The view that such a strike is "a legitimate strike" is not,
to our knowledge, held by any democratic government in the world.[4]

But
most importantly with regard to the credibility of the HRW report, it
is profoundly misleading for the authors to argue that "political
discrimination is a defining feature" of a government that is not
willing to risk the continuing employment of people who have carried
out such a strike.

The
report's overwhelming reliance for factual material on opposition
sources of dubious reliability also undermines its credibility and
makes it difficult for most readers to know which parts of the report
are true and which aren't. The most cited source with regard to
political discrimination is the newspaper El Universal.[5]
This is not only a stridently opposition newspaper, it has also, for
the years during which it is cited, repeatedly fabricated news stories.
For example, in a typical fabrication of the type deployed to libel
government officials, El Universal reported that then Interior Minister Jesse Chacón had purchased a painting for $140,000.[6]
This turned out to be completely false. There are many examples of
fabrications in El Universal, as well as other opposition sources cited
by the report.[7]

We find it troubling that a report on Human Rights depends heavily on unreliable sources. Would a report on human rights in the United States be taken seriously if it relied so heavily on Fox News, or even worse The National Enquirer? Indeed,
this report ventures even further into the zone of unreliable sources
and cites a mentally unstable opposition blogger as a source. (p. 20,
footnote 30). This is a person who indulges not only in routine
fabrications and advocates the violent overthrow of the government, but
also has publicly fantasized about killing his political enemies and
dumping the bodies from helicopters into the slums, and torturing
others by "pour[ing] melted silver into their eyes."[8]

A
disturbing thing about the report's reliance on these sources is that
it indicates a lack of familiarity with the subject matter, or perhaps
worse, a deep political prejudice that allows the authors to see most
of these sources as unproblematic. Indeed, there is only one passing
indication that the newspapers El Universal and El Nacional, are opposition newspapers, and it is a reference to the past[9], which the reader might therefore reasonably judge to be irrelevant. On the other hand, the report refers to the newspaper Últimas Noticias
as "largely sympathetic to Chávez and his government" and "a generally
pro-government tabloid." (p.70, p.89) This is a newspaper that prints
articles that are harshly critical of the government on a daily basis,
and according to polling data in Venezuela is seen as vastly more
independent than any other major newspapers. The
authors' view of the Venezuelan media seems to mirror the view of the
right-wing Venezuelan opposition, or the U.S. Right's view of the
"liberal media" in the United States.

Such
profound prejudice, in which events are interpreted overwhelmingly
through the lens of Venezuela's right-wing opposition, is apparent
throughout the document: for example when the authors describe groups
that helped organize and supported the April 2002 coup as "new
organizations dedicated to the defense of democracy and the rule of
law." (p. 203).

But the worst thing about the report's reliance on opposition sources like El Universal, El Nacional, or Súmate, is that these sources have engaged in enough fabrications as to make them unreliable sources for factual material.

In
its discussion of the media, the report also paints a grossly
exaggerated picture of reality, while presenting some valid criticisms
of existing law and practice. It is acknowledged in footnotes buried
deep within the text that the opposition still dominates both broadcast
and print media (footnote 184, p.74; footnote 181, p.73). Yet the
government is reproached for "having significantly shifted the balance
of the media in the government's favor" by creating pro-government TV
stations since the 2002 coup, when "Chávez faced an almost entirely
hostile private media." This is an odd position for a human rights
organization to take. While it would be nice if the government could
create TV stations that had no bias whatsoever, isn't it better to have
some competition in the media – from left-leaning, pro-government
stations – than to have a right-wing, anti-democratic, private
monopoly? Especially when that right-wing monopoly had, as never before
in world history, organized a military coup against a democratically
elected government and led a devastating oil strike that nearly toppled
the government a second time? Do the authors consider this type of
media monopoly to be more protective of human rights than a media that
is still dominated by the opposition but also presents some other
sources of information?

The
report refers repeatedly to the danger of "self-censorship," but does
not provide any examples of this actually happening. This is a major
weakness in its argument, since it is not that difficult to find
examples of self-censorship in response to government pressure in, for
example, the U.S. media.

In
the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, the Sinclair Broadcast Group of
Maryland, owner of the largest chain of television stations in the
U.S., planned to show a documentary that accused candidate John Kerry
of betraying American prisoners during the Vietnam War. The company
ordered its 62 stations to show the film during prime-time hours just
two weeks before the election. Nineteen Democratic senators sent a letter to the U.S. F.C.C. http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200410/101504.html
calling for an investigation into this proposed intervention by
Sinclair in the campaign, and some made public statements that
Sinclair's broadcast license could be in jeopardy if it carried through
with its plans. As a result of this pressure, Sinclair backed down and
did not broadcast the film.

This
example is directly relevant to the HRW report on Venezuela, because it
shows that, in order to have a broadcast license in the United States
and other democratic countries, the licensee is expected to follow
certain rules and not to become a major political actor, e.g. by
intervening in elections. As Vivanco himself has noted, "lack of
renewal of the contract [broadcast license], per se, is not a
free speech issue." Yet this report cites the denial of RCTV's
broadcast license renewal as a simple, and indeed its primary, example
of the Venezuelan government's alleged attack on free speech. It does
not seem to matter to the authors that the station had participated in
a military coup and other attempts to topple the government and would
not receive a broadcast license in any democratic country.

The
report even uses innuendo to imply that the government is to blame for
attacks on journalists, which have occurred against both opposition and
pro-government journalists. The authors state that the opposition TV
station Globovisión "has received warning letters from CONATEL because
of the political tone of its reporting, it has been frequently refused
entry to government press conferences, and its reporters and cameramen
have been physically attacked and threatened by Chávez supporters." (p.
117) The authors provide no evidence that the government in any way
condoned or supported such alleged attacks.

The
major media in Venezuela to this day are practically unmatched in this
hemisphere, and indeed most of the world, for their vehement,
unfettered, and even vicious, libelous, and violence inciting attacks
on the government[10].
While the HRW report presents a number of valid criticisms of existing
law and a few cases of unwarranted intervention by government
officials, it serves no legitimate purpose to hide or distort the
actual state of Venezuela's media.

The same can be said for the rest of the report, including its treatment of the judiciary.[11]
HRW has an obligation to criticize any laws or practices of the
Venezuelan government that it sees as endangering human rights, and we
welcome the valid criticisms that it raises in its report. But Mr.
Vivanco has gravely undermined the credibility of Human Rights Watch by
producing a report that, by his own admission, is politically
motivated, as well as grossly exaggerated, based on unreliable sources,
and advertises broad and sweeping allegations that are unsupported by
the evidence.

We
therefore request that HRW retract and revise its report so as to
produce a credible document. Mr. Vivanco should also retract his
remarks as to the political motivation for the report.

We
would be glad to meet with you to discuss this issue further, and would
welcome a debate with Mr. Vivanco in any public forum of his choosing,
should he be willing to defend his report in public.

We hope you will consider these requests with the seriousness they deserve.Our
letter is not meant as a justification for the Venezuelan government's
decision to expel the authors of the HRW report from the country. Human
rights are too important to be used as a political football, as has so
often been the case when Washington singles out another government as
an enemy state. This is why we depend on civil society organizations
for independent, non-partisan, non-political reporting and
investigation.

In
the spirit of sharing our concerns with our Spanish-speaking
colleagues, we are having this letter translated to be circulated in
Latin America.


Sincerely,

1. Rodolfo Acuña, Professor, Chicano/a Studies, California State University , Northridge

2. Federico Álvarez, Professor Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

3. Tim Anderson, Senior Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Sydney , Australia

4. Miguel Angel Herrera, Historia, Universidad de Costa Rica

5. Robert Austin, Ph.D, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical Studies, University of Melbourne

6. Márgara Averbach, Professor of Literatura, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

7. William Aviles, Associate Professor, Political Science University of Nebraska , Kearney

8. Mario Ayala, Programa de Historia Oral, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires

9. David Barkin, Profesor de Economía, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco

10. .Carlos Beas, Activista Movimiento Indígena, Oaxaca-MEXICO

11.. Alejandro Alvarez Béjar, Professor Economics Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México

12. Donald W, Bray, Professor Emeritus, California State University , Los Angeles

13. Marjorie Woodford Bray, Professor, Latin American Studies, California State University , Los Angeles

14. Charles Bergquist, Professor of History, University of Washington

15. Atilio A. Boron Director del PLED, Programa Latinoamericano de
Educación a Distancia en Ciencias Sociales, Buenos Aires, Argentina

16. Chesa Boudin, Yale Law School

17. Clara Mantini Briggs, Associate Researcher, Demography, University of California , Berkeley

18. Charles Briggs, Professor Anthropology, University of California , Berkeley

19. Julia Buxton, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International
Cooperation and Security, Department of Peace Studies, Bradford
University

20. Maria Emilia Caballero, Comitè ´68 Pro Libertades Democràticas en Mèxico

21. Marisol de la Cadena, Associate Professor of Anthropology, UC-Davis , CA

22. José Calderon, Professor Sociology and Chicano/a Studies, Pitzer College

23. Hernán Camarero, Professor, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

24. Cristina Castello, Poeta y Periodista, Buenos Aires, Argentina

25. Ana Esther Ceceña, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, UNAM
Observatorio Latinoamericano de Geopolítica

26. Eleonora Quijada Cervoni, School of Language Studies, The Australian National University

27. Julie A. Charlip, Professor, Department of History, Whitman College

28. Norma Stoltz Chinchilla, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, California State University Long Beach

29. Christopher Clement, Visiting Professor Politics, Pomona College

30. Ron Chilcote, Professor Economics, University of California Riverside

31. Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

32. Antonia Darder, Professor Educational Policy and Latino Studies, University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign

33. Michael Derham, University of Northumbria , School of Arts and Social Sciences

34. Mônica Dias Martins, Professor Political Science, State University of Ceara , Brazil

35. Héctor Díaz-Polanco, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en
Antropología (CIESAS)

36.Luis Duno, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, Rice University , Houston , TX

37. Steve Ellner, Professor Political Science, University of Oriente , Venezuela

38. Arturo Escobar, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, UNC-Chapel Hill , NC

39. Raul Fernandez, Professor, School of Social Science , University of California Irvine

40. Sujatha Fernandes, Queens College , City University of New York

41. Bill Fletcher, Jr., Executive Editor, BlackCommentator.com

42. Gabrielle Foreman, Visiting Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies, Bowdoin College

43. Cindy Forster, Associate Professor History, Scripps College

44. Félix Hernàndez Gamundi, Comitè ´68 Pro Libertades Democràticas en Mèxico

45. Raúl Alvarez Garìn, Comitè ´68 Pro Libertades Democràticas en Mèxico

46. José Francisco Gallardo Rodríguez, General Brigadier y Doctor en Administración Pública

47. Marco A. Gandásegui, (h) Professor, University of Panama

48. Lesley Gill, Professor and Chair of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville , TN

49. Magdalena Gómez, Columnist, La Jornada

50. Gilbert Gonzalez, Professor School of Social Science, University of California , Irvine

51. Armando Gonzalez-Caban, Latin American Perspective

52. Jeffrey Gould, Professor of History, Indiana University .

53. Greg Grandin , Professor of History, Director of Graduate Studies, New York University

54. Angel Guerra, Journalist, La Jornada

55. Maria Guerra, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

56. Peter Hallward, Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University , UK

57. Daniel Hellinger, Professor Political Science, Webster University

58. Ramona Hernandez, Director, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute & Professor of Sociology, The City College of New York

59. Derrick Hindery, Assistant Professor of International Studies and Geography, University of Oregon

60. Forrest Hylton, Ph.D. Candidate, History, NYU

61. Robin D. G. Kelley, Professor of History and American Studies

62. Misha Kokotovic, Associate Professor Department of Literature, UC San Diego

63. Maria Lagos, Associate Professor Emerita, Dept. of Anthropology, Lehman College , CUNY.

64. Sidney Lemelle, Professor of History, Pomona College

65. Deborah Levenson, Professor of History, Boston College

66. Nayar López Castellanos, Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de Mexico

67. Gilberto López y Rivas, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Centro Regional Morelos

68. Florencia E. Mallon, Julieta Kirkwood Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison , WI

69. Luis Martin-Cabrera, Assistant Professor, UCSD

70. Jorge Mariscal, Professor, Literature, University of California , San Diego

71. Peter McLaren, Professor, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California , Los Angeles

72. Frida Modak, Chilean Journalist

73. Daniel Molina, Comitè ´68 Pro Libertades Democràticas en Mèxico

74. José Mollet, Profesor Asistente y escritor, Director del Centro de
Investigaciones Socioculturales, Instituto de Cultura del Estado
Falcón, Venezuela

75. Carlos Montemayor, Writer

76. Maricarmen Montes, Nuestra América

77. Josefina Morales, Investigadora UNAM, México

78. Luis Hernández Navarro, Journalist

79. Fabio Gabriel Nigra, Assistant Professor of History, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

80. Enrique Ochoa, Professor, Latin American Studies, California State University , Los Angeles

81. Elizabeth Oglesby, Department of Geography, University of Arizona

82. Jocelyn Olcott, Department of History, Duke University Press

83. Mercedes Olivera, Centro de Estudios Superiores de México y Centroamérica, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas.

84. Mark Overmyer -Velazquez, Associate Professor of History, University of Connecticut

85. José Herrera Peña Centro de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Facultad de
Derecho y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de
Hidalgo.

86. Rebeca Peralta, Nuestra América

87. Salvador E. Morales Pérez, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo

88. Hector Perla, Assistant Professor Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California , Santa Cruz

89. John Pilger, journalist and documentary film maker

90. Deborah Poole, Professor, Anthropology, Johns Hopkins

91. Carlos Walter Porto Gonçalves Professor do Programa de Pós-graduação em Geografia da
Universidade Federal Fluminense

92. Pablo A. Pozzi, Professor of History, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

93. Vijay Prashad, Professor, International Studies, Trinity College

94. Gerardo Renique, City College , City University of New York

95. William Robinson, Professor Sociology, University of California , Santa Barbara

96. Victor Rodriguez, Professor, Chicano Latino Studies, California State University , Long Beach

97. René Patricio Cardoso Ruiz, Director en Estudios Latinoamericanos,
Investigador Nacional I del SIN, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad
Autónoma del Estado de México

98. Jan Rus, Latin American Perspectives

99. Emir Sader, Secretario Ejecutivo de CLACSO, Sociólogo, Argentina

100. Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History, Pomona College

101. Rosaura Sanchez, Professor, Literature, University of California , San Diego

102. John Saxe-Fernández, Essayist, México

103. Alejandro M. Schneider, Assistant Professor of History, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina

104.Enrique Semo, Professor of Economics, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

105.T.M. Scruggs, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, University of Iowa

106. Jose Steinsleger, Mexican Writer and Journalist

107. Beatriz Stolowicz, Universidad Autónoma Xochimilco

108.Oliver Stone, Filmmaker

109. Sinclair Thomson, Professor History, New York University

110.Steven Topik, Professor, History, University of California , Irvine

111. Jorge Turner, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

112. Carolina Verduzco, Comitè ´68 Pro Libertades Democràticas en Mèxico

113. William H. Watkins, Professor, College of Education , Univ. of Illinois , Chicago

114. Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

115. Dr Stephen Wilkinson Assistant Director International Institute for the Study of Cuba London Metropolitan University

116. Gregory Wilpert, Ph.D, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College

117. John Womack, Professor, History, Harvard

118. Nahirana Zambrano, Professor of American Studies, University of the Andes, Venezuela

###


[1]"Venezuela no es modelo para nadie," September 21, 2008, El Universal. Since El Universal is not necessarily a reliable source (see below), we confirmed that this quote from Mr. Vivanco was accurate.

[2]"Venezuela no es modelo para nadie," September 21, 2008, El Universal. Since El Universal is not necessarily a reliable source (see below), we confirmed that this quote from Mr. Vivanco was accurate.

[3] Petkoff describes
the opposition "strategy that overtly sought a military takeover" from
1999-2003, and also writes about the opposition's use of its control
over the oil industry to topple the government. "A Watershed Moment in Venezuela." Inter-American Dialogue Working Paper (July 2008)

[4]
The United States has several laws that would have prevented such a
strike from even having been carried out, and allowed for firing the
participants and even jailing of its organizers.

[5]
In addition to these opposition newspapers, the section on political
discrimination cites extensively other opposition newspapers (El Nacional, Tal Cual) and the opposition group Súmate.

[6] http://www.eluniversal.com/2004/09/27/pol_art_chacon.shtml

[7] A few more examples: On August 4, 2004, El Universal
ran a story on their front page that a recent poll showed the Yes vote
against Chávez was winning and that there was "evidence that indicates
the exit of Hugo Chávez as president." The poll turned out to be
non-existent. Another opposition newspaper cited by HRW, El Nacional, has also fabricated stories in attempts to discredit the government. On January 12, 2003, El Nacional reported that an oil worker had been burned to death in an accident at El Palito oil refinery. On the day that the article ran, the reportedly "dead" worker appeared on television in good health. The
HRW report also frequently cites the opposition group Súmate; Súmate
maintained, on the basis of faked exit polls (for which it helped
gather data), that the 2004 recall referendum was actually stolen by a
fantastic electronic fraud. See "Polling and the Ballot in Venezuela www.cepr.net/documents/presentations/venezuela_polling.ppt
. The opposition media in general promoted this bizarre conspiracy
theory. (Chávez won the referendum, which was certified by
international observers including the OAS and the Carter Center, by a
margin of 58-41 percent).

[8] See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/sep/01/friendsinlowplaces

[9] "Two long-established daily newspapers-El Universal and El Nacional-were persistent critics"(p.69)

[10] A recent example is when the Editor of the Newspaper El Nuevo Pais, Rafael Poleo, stated on Globovisión's talk show, Alo Ciudadano, that "Hugo is going to end up like Mussolini, hung with his head towards the floor." See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeotfcwBLqI

[11]
For a more detailed but still not exhaustive account of the HRW
report's exaggerations, errors, and omissions, see Gregory Wilpert,
"Smoke and Mirrors: An Analysis of Human Rights Watch's Report on
Venezuela" Venezuelanalysis.com October 17, 2008. http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3882