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Letter to the Guardian Regarding its Venezuela Coverage

A letter to the Guardian criticising its coverage of Venezuela, specifically its lack of articles on the assasination of Venezuelan farmers, while instead it covers stories such as the possiblity of Chavez going bald.

Dear Guardian editors: 

We, the undersigned, ask why the Guardian ignored one of Venezuela’s most serious human rights problems – the assassination of hundreds of peasant activists since 2001 by gunmen hired by wealthy land owners.

On June 8, VenezuelaAnalysis.com reported a 10,000 person march on the National Assembly to demand justice for the victims (“Venezuelan Peasant Organisations March to Demand Justice for Murders”)

The Guardian’s Caracas-based correspondent, Rory Carroll, reported none of this and has disregarded this grave human rights issue for years.

The Guardian has recently published articles about Chavez going bald (“Hugo Chávez expects to go bald after chemotherapy in Cuba“) and about his “conspiracy theories” surrounding the death of Simon Bolivar (“Hugo Chávez claims Simon Bolívar was murdered not backed by science“). 

Peasants have clearly been targeted in order to defeat the Chavez government’s efforts to remedy the gross inequities in land distribution across Venezuela.  The victims of this violence, and the truth, deserve better. 

Sincerely,

Noam Chomsky, MIT 
Roger Annis,  CanadaHaitiAction.ca
Diana Barahona, Sociologist and Journalist
Kenneth  Beckman, Owner of eCinemaVentures
Flávio Benedito, USP- Universidade de São  Paulo – Brazil
Rachael Boothroyd, VenezuelAnalysis.com
Janeske Botes,  Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Charles Callman,  activist 
Brian Concannon, Human Rights Lawyer
David Cromwell,  Medialens
Andre Dahl Jensen, Activist, Webmaster
Mike Davis,  Author
David Edwards, Medialens
Edward Ellis, Filmmaker 
Joe  Emersberger, HaitiAnalysis.com 
Yves Engler, Author
Chiensan Feng,  Professor, Department of Journalism, National Cheng Chi  
University,Taiwan
Anthony Fenton, Journalist
Crystal Geyer, Activist  
Eva Golinger, Author, Correo del Orinoco International
Daniel Hirst,  Directeur de Recherche CNRS, Université de Provence, 
Aix-en-Provence,  France
Kim Ives, Haiti Liberte
John E. Jones, author, Canada
Brooks  Kind, Artist
David McKnight, Filmmaker, Wales/Nicaragua
Pablo Navarrete,  Alborada.net
Manqoba Nxumalo, Journalist and Student, University of KwaZulu Natal, Swaziland
Tamara Pearson, VenezuelAnalysis.com
David Peterson,  Writer
John Pilger, Filmmaker
Adrienne Pine, American University,  Washington DC 
Dr. Diana Raby, Senior Fellow in Latin American Studies,  University of Liverpool
Marthe Raymond, poet, playwright, indigenist  activist
Dr. William Robinson, University of California Santa Barbara  
Manuel Rozental, Colombian activist and physician
Leandro Sanchez  Photographer/Director United States/Venezuela
David Soori, London, UK
Jeb  Sprague, University of California Santa Barbara
Tom Vouloumanos, New  Democratic Party of Canada – Ahuntsic Riding Association President. 
Megan  S-Warner TV and film producer United States
Greg Wilpert,  VenezuelAnalysis.com 
Michael D. Yates, Professor Emeritus, University of  Pittsburgh at 
Johnstown and Associate Editor of Monthly Review.
Gabriele  Zamparini, Filmmaker

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