The Ombudsman of the Bolivarian Venezuela Republic, through a communiqué, expressed its strong rejection to the recent interventionist statements by the spokesman for the United States Department of State, Mark Toner, with which he sought to discredit the Venezuelan institutions.
These statements, qualified as an interference in internal affairs, distance from “the spirit of respect that should prevail in relations between democratic countries in the Americas”, as said Ombudsman Tarek William Saab in the statement that was published on Saturday .
Following, the full communiqué:
The Ombudsman of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as an institution that is responsible for the promotion, monitoring and protection of the rights and guarantees established in the Constitution of the Republic and in the international human rights treaties, disputes the statements issued by the spokesman of the United States Department of State, Mark C. Toner, since they relapse in the policy of interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela that has characterized the Government of the United States in recent years, moving away from the spirit of respect that should prevail in the relations between the democratic countries of the Americas.
The United States Department of State is not qualified to monitor or give opinion on compliance or otherwise of international human rights treaties by the community of nations. On the contrary, its history of supporting dictatorships, coups, invasions and regimes outside the international law, as well as the systematic practice of torture, extrajudicial executions and the use of clandestine detention centers made by the US worldwide, make it lack any moral authority to issue any opinion.
The statements made by the spokesman of the State Department, distorts the reality of the situation of human rights in Venezuela, and disown the work of the institutions of the Venezuelan State in order to guarantee the rights of those detainees and processed by the Venezuelan justice system.
The Ombudsman constantly performs a follow-up to all detainees in the detention centers in the country, and has welcomed the families and lawyers of those who are arrested and prosecuted for being immerse in acts contrary to the law related to protests in 2014 and other acts of violence in the country.
The follow-up work has served our institution to request alternative measures of freedom for health reasons and probations for many citizens, which have been agreed by the Judiciary under the principle of cooperation between the powers. All detainees have weekly access to lawyers, as well as family visits 2 times a week.
We emphasize that United Nations agencies such as the Inter-American Human Rights System have expressed their rejection of the so-called self-amnesty laws as contrary to international law of human rights and curtailing the rights to justice and truth.
The Ombudsman will participate as a member of the Citizen Power in the creation of a Commission of Truth that will allow to know all the views on the acts of violence that have led to deaths, property damage and injured, to identify the victims and perpetrators and to submit to the country the truth of the facts. Only from the knowledge of the truth and recognition of the facts it will be possible to achieve forgiveness and reconciliation.
The Ombudsman reiterates its rejection of violence and reaffirms its call for peace and respect for democratic ways to resolve political disputes that arise in the setting of a high-intensity democracy such as Venezuela.
AHORA:
