Letter to the Guardian
Abuses in Venezuela
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 4 August 2011 20.59 BST
Dear Sir,
Why have you 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 8 June, Venezuelanalysis.com reported a 10,000-person march on the National Assembly to demand justice for the victims. You reported none of this and have disregarded this grave human rights issue for years, although you recently published articles about Chávez going bald and about his “conspiracy theories” surrounding the death of Simón Bolívar. Peasants have clearly been targeted in order to defeat the Chávez government’s efforts to remedy the gross inequities in land distribution across Venezuela. The victims of this violence, and the truth, deserve better.
Noam Chomsky MIT
Roger Annis CanadaHaitiAction.ca
Rachael Boothroyd VenezuelAnalysis.com
Brian Concannon Human rights lawyer
Charles Callman Activist
David Cromwell Medialens
Mike Davis Author
David Edwards Medialens
Joe Emersberger HaitiAnalysis.com
Yves Engler Author
Anthony Fenton Journalist
Crystal Geyer Activist
Eva Golinger Author, Correo del Orinoco International
Kim Ives Haiti Liberté
John E Jones Author, Canada
Brooks Kind Artist
Tamara Pearson VenezuelAnalysis.com
David Peterson Writer
Adrienne Pine American University, Washington DC
John Pilger Journalist, flmmaker
Dr Diana Raby Senior fellow in Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool
Bob Rawlings US
Dr William Robinson University of California, Santa Barbara
Manuel Rozental Colombian activist and physician
Jeb Sprague University of California, Santa Barbara
Saras Udanpur London
Greg Wilpert VenezuelAnalysis.com
Michael D Yates Professor emeritus, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, and associate editor of Monthly Review
Gabriele Zamparini Filmmaker