Freedom and Justice for Oswaldo Alvarez Paz

Oswaldo Alvarez Paz and his struggle for freedom

Hugo Chavez Frias, Venezuelas tough guy, decreed the arrest of Oswaldo Alvarez Paz during his Alo Presidente program. Alvarez Paz is an outspoken advocate of democracy who was arrested for his remarks on a television talk show after Chavezs warning that if his judicial system did not please him, the people were going to take actions, as a vane presumption of his ability to be a crowd-puller which he has lost on account of his demagogy and incompetence. However, the submissive judicial power followed his orders expeditiously as should have been the case for a more noble cause. Chavez and his followers gambled to intimidate a democrat that has always acted in Politics guided by principles and found a man who confronted them and courageously ratified his opinions. The rulers warnings failed to generate the expected impact and hence Chavez had to enforce his threat to create an atmosphere of fear. But he could not instill fear into this strong Christian democrat and humanist fighter and Chavez needed to convey a message of harshness to the Venezuelan people and the Continent. He was challenged by a strong leader who would not be intimidated and from the ergastulum of the political police continues to demand from Chavez an explanation to the national and international claims of being permissive with crimes against humanity, for the support of his government to terrorist groups such as ETA and FARC, in addition to the misgivings about financial assistance to Islamic radicals, the laxity or partnership of government officials in drug trafficking as a source of corruption and financing of terrorist groups, and for the violation of universally accepted Human Rights such as the right to own property, freedom of expression and the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. It is inadmissible that the claims presented by Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, exercising his own individual rights, be the reason for his persecution, since that will be tantamount to enshrining the crime of expression that the Nazis, fascists and Stalinists adopted, resulting in so much pain and misfortune for mankind.

In view of the above, in addition to condemn the imprisonment and the process to which the government intends to subject Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, we, as representatives of various Venezuelan and international organizations and as individuals who defend the freedom of people express our solidarity and support to Dr. Alvarez Paz, and demand from Hugo Chavezs regime his immediate release as well as answers to the claims of the Spanish tribunals and to the numerous evidences of his political interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, as well as to the reasonable beliefs about his links to international terrorism, his underground support to drug trafficking and the implementation of measures that have harmed and endanger the fundamental rights of the Venezuelan people and could give rise in the future to actions by the international criminal justice.

We must not forget that in the aftermath of World War II, the international institutions imparted justice; hence, the new autocrats who seek shelter in a democratic beginning, are bound to be compliant with the law and observant of legality and legitimacy in their performance; this is inherent to the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution of Venezuela and in the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

March, 2010

Endorse by:

Enrique Gomez Hurtado
Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza
Alberto Schlesinger
Roger Noriega
Carlos Alberto Montaner
Armando Valladares
Anibal Romero
Antonio Nicolas Briceno Braun
Luis Betancourt Oteiza
Ana Maria de la Madris de Betancourt
Pedro Carmona E.
Gladys O. de Carmona
Aurelio Useche K.
Pedro Paul Bello
Alejandro Garcia Defendini
Virginia Contreras
Haydee Deutsch
Mario Ivan Carratu M.
Alfred Leon
Marisabel G. de Leon
Alejandra Coll de la Madriz
Pic Ling Fung
Jose Gabriel Sarmiento
Roman Rojas Cobot
Julio Davila Cardenas
Thor Halvorssen Hellum
Horacio Medina
Orlando Urdaneta
Gustavo Coronel
Oswaldo Munoz
Elizabeth Lairet
Miriam Ferrer de Bailey