Award-winning human rights group Foro Penal falsely accused of terrorism by Venezuelan regime
Foro Penal, recipient of the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award 2023, was yesterday arbitrarily and falsely accused of committing ‘terrorist acts’ by the Venezuelan government. Civil Rights Defenders reaffirm our full support to Foro Penal, and calls on the international community to join us in demanding that the Venezuelan government end the stigmatisation of human rights defenders in the country.
Civil Rights Defenders expresses deep concern over the statements made by Venezuela’s Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, who arbitrarily accused the civil organisation Foro Penal, as well as other human rights associations, of belonging to an alleged ‘terrorist structure’ at a press conference yesterday.
On Venezuelan national television, where the official regularly criminalises and stigmatises human rights organisations and defenders, he claimed that these organisations work together to generate ‘terrorist acts’ from within academia. These statements endanger activists who already live in a context of constant stigmatisation and threats.
Diosdado Cabello’s words add to the wave of arrests and harassment of activists in the country. According to organisations such as Wola and Amnesty International, more than 70 human rights defenders were arrested in recent weeks, prior to the legislative and regional elections held on 25 May in the country.
The accusations against Foro Penal, an organisation that has been working for more than 18 years to defend the rights of people imprisoned for political reasons through legal defence and assistance, put the lives and freedom of the team at risk. It also further closes the already weak civic space in Venezuela and criminalises the human rights work of this and other organisations in the country.
Civil Rights Defenders calls on the European Union, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OAS and the governments of the region to publicly reject these statements and demand that the Venezuelan government end the stigmatisation of those who defend rights in Venezuela. We express our full solidarity with Foro Penal and recognise its historic struggle for procedural guarantees for Venezuelan citizens, work that earned them recognition as recipients of the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award 2023.
