Tascon's Fascist list After the opposition gathered signatures to ask for the recall of Hugo Chavez, one of the Deputies from his party, Luis Tascon, (called sometimes Adolph in Hitler's memory) compiled the list of those that signed and placed it on his website and distributed it in CD's, so that people could recognize the "enemy". This list,probably mandated by Chavez himself, was then used to fire people, ban them from jobs, from obtaining ID cards, passports and other forms of discrimination and mistreatment. Here I present a compilation of the articles which appeared in Tal Cual denouncing the use of Tascon's lists as translated by me and related articles written by me.
We have read your letter
criticizing the report A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost
Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela by Human Rights Watch
and are flabbergasted by its superficiality and the same lack of academic rigor
you unfairly attribute to HRW.
In fact, its title alone is quite
deceiving as some of the names signing the letter hardly qualify as "experts"
on Latin America and it is quite clear that the common bond of those signing
the letter is simply a blind support towards Hugo Chavez and his fake pseudo revolution.
It is not based on any factual knowledge about what is happening on Venezuela
and what you criticize of the cited report.
On the issue of discrimination on
political grounds, you are of course referring to the infamous Tascon/Chavez
list, a perverse database of those that signed a petition to recall the
mandate of Hugo Chavez, which has been widely used to discriminate in
employment and providing services to Venezuelan citizens. You question the
veracity of such discrimination, which Teodoro Petkoff has called an "apartheid" list, but maybe HRW should have linked this video from the documentary "The
List"(For a written
summary of "The List", read
here) where in minute 0:49 Hugo Chavez says "Anyone that signs against
Chavez his name will be registered for history". Later in minute 2:17 President
Chavez in his Sunday variety show Alo Presidente (#214) jokes about the Tascon
list and the fear people have of being in it. Finally in minute 3:08 at a
public Cabinet meeting Hugo Chavez says: "The famous Tascon list should be
filed away. That is now over. Let the Tascon list be buried, it surely played
its role at a certain moment, but it is now over" :
What else could the Venezuelan
President have meant when he publicly made that order to "file away" and "bury"
that list? Bury it had a very clear meaning: Chavez knew and backed the list for
a long time, never condemned it and just ordered that it no longer be used. He
ordered it buried as local newspapers began printing dozens of cases daily of
discrimination and firings using the Tascon/Chavez list. Many of these cases
are well documented in "The List"
But in the name of accuracy and
rigor maybe you could all have simply taken the time to download the Tascon/Chavez
database and played with it. This perverse use of technology represents and
abominable example about what mankind can do in the name of ideology and
politics. It classifies millions of Venezuelans as pro or against Hugo Chavez.
Those in favor are called "Patriots", of course, and to insure that the
appropriate pressure can be brought upon those against this empty revolution,
it includes everyone's address, voting center and a powerful search function.
Just think, you can spy on your
family and neighbors from the comfort of your own laptop and know whether they
signed against Chavez (if you are against him) or whether they have benefited
or not from the Government;s direct assistant programs (if you are for him),
creating a tool for division and hate for all Venezuelans
Yes, Venezuela is indeed not a political
model for anyone as clearly exposed by HRW and Jose Miguel Vivancos. The
country is a signatory of these International agreements and declarations which
you failed to take into account in your letter. But not knowing them is no
excuse, particularly when you are asking for the rigor that an academic peer
review process should have.
And yes, in most cases it can not
be proven that there was discrimination. When one of us was denied a passport, he
was not given a piece of paper stating it was because he had signed against
Chavez, but was told only verbally that was the true reason. This happened to thousands
of Venezuelans who could not obtain a passport or an ID card for months after
the 2004 recall referendum.
As for employment or Government
contracts, even after Chavez asked that the list be buried, it
was used to get rid of the enemies of the state who worked at oil company
Sincor when the Government nationalized it. The newly named President of that
company left
no doubt about it: "This is a matter of the State. There is a list being
circulated in the press and it is real. It came out of here, we are
investigating it and whoever leaked it will go to jail. It will be applied to
key personnel which is within or outside the company". And yes the people
were fired, so much for inaccuracy and hearsay, no?
And there is the case of Rocio
San Miguel and two other lawyers (shown in "The List") who worked at the
Council for Borders, who just happened to tape 55 minutes of telephone conversations
with their superiors, who explained to them they were fired for signing against
Hugo Chavez and that the Venezuelan Vice-President directly approved it. That
case is now in the Interamerican Human Rights Court.
And while you correctly state the
Government had the right to fire the oil workers for striking, you bypass the
not so irrelevant fact that it not only did it illegally, ignoring Venezuela's
strict labor legislation, but it confiscated severance pay (also illegal under
Venezuelan law) as well as voluntary pension fund contributions and savings of
all these workers without any Court order allowing it. These workers ranged
from low level messengers to secretaries, to indeed, high level executives. Venezuelan
Labor Courts have failed to process a single one of the appeals for these cases
since 2003. If that is not overt discrimination and violation of due process
and the rule of law, then what is?
As for self-censorship which you
so un-rigorously dismiss, you fail to note the dozens of reporters whose
programs have been cancelled in the media outlets who decided to "follow
orders" from the Government, in contrast to the illegal termination
of broadcasting license and seizure of
the property of TV station RCTV,
which refused to obey the orders from highest levels of power in Venezuela.
And it is absolutely
laughable when you state that "The report even uses innuendo to imply that
the government is to blame for attacks on journalists", when the Venezuelan
Government has
failed to provide protection to over 250 reporters as requested by the
Interamerican Human Rights Court, within treaties of which Venezuela is a signatory.
Finally, you question HRW from
using a report by an "opposition blogger", calling him mentally unstable, for
which you also have no evidence as no professional has ever declared him so,
but you
fail to question a single fact of the reference cited by HRW. You will find
this very difficult to do, since that reference is a factual description of the
Tascon/Chavez database and proof that the Electoral Board authorized the
release of copies of all of the signatures to pro-Chavez Deputy Luis Tascon.
And I do find it remarkable that
you use as evidence that some people have called for the violent overthrow of
the Venezuelan Government presided by Hugo Chavez who supported two coup
attempts, violent ones at that, and who actually led one of them which left
over 200 Venezuelans dead in the streets, including children. An interesting
double standard you all have in the defense of human rights, to say the least.
In the end you letter is a defficient
attempt at discrediting HRW, which curiously defended Mr. Chavez in 2002
despite the deaths induced by the Venezuelan President against a peaceful
march. Your letter fails precisely where you attempted to find fault with the
HRW report, it lacks rigor, it is superficial and represents a terrible error
for you to sign such a partisan
document.
Meanwhile back in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez
seeks his
indefinite reelection despite a referendum denying it in 2007 and against
the express prohibition by the Venezuelan
Constitution (Title IX) to consider the same question twice in a single
Constitutional period. Moreover, Hugo Chavez issued 26 Bills in
July 2008 which contain provisions also rejected in the same referendum.
This is the wholesale violation of
the democratic rights of the majority of Venezuelans who voted against such
provisions in December 2007
Remarkably, there are still those
like you "experts" that have barely probed the surface of what is going on in
our beleaguered country that continue to defend the indefensible, continue to
support an outlaw Government which lacks the support of Venezuelan academia and
students, but you have failed to even ask yourself why this is.
Ironically, while you sit in the
comforts of your offices supporting the Chavez revolution and working on your
academic projects, your social science colleagues in Venezuela receive meager funding and the annual social sciences award has not been given in the last two years .
It is truly sad when in the name
of academia a serious and very unique institution exclusively devoted to the
defense of human rights is attacked for political purposes in such a low quality and superficial
way. But it is even sadder and a shame, when the systematic and well organized
violations of human rights by the Venezuelan Government presided by Hugo Chavez
are ignored by those that claim to dream with and believe in the basic dignity
and rights of all human beings.
Miguel Octavio, Daniel Duquenal and Alek Boyd, bloggers
Felix J. Tapia, Professor-Reseracher, Universidad Central de Venezuela Kensey Amaya, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Benjamin Scharifker, Professor of Chemistry, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Member, Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Diego Arria Maria J. Gonzaez
Associate Professor, Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford Ohio Gioconda San-Blas, Individuo de Numero de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Jaime Requena, Miembro de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Claudio Bifano, Presidente de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Luiz Gomez C. Investigador, Cendes, Universidad Central de Venezuela Gustavo Coronel Balvant Rajani, Principal Research Officer, National Research Council Canada Alpha http://free-opinion-venezuela.blogspot.com/ Kate http://rolita816.blogspot.com Iruna Urruticoechea, Periodista Carlos Armando Figueredo, Profesor Postgrado en Derechos Humanos,Universidad Central de Venezuela Julia The end of Venezuela as I know ithttp://antipatrioticvenezuelan.blogspot.com Carlo Caputo, Investigador Titular Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas Grupo 400+ http://g400mas.blogspot.com Heinz R. Sonntag, Emeritus Prof. of Sociology, Reserach Fellow and Professor of CENDES-UCV, Universidad Central de Venezuela. Silvya de Puki, Interpreter, Translator, RECIVEX Denver Ignacio Iribarren, Miembro de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Humberto La Roche Nora Palacios, Systems Analyst, Department of Education, Victoria, Canad Dorindo Burgo, Hermano Marista Jose Felix Oletta, Profesor Jubilado, Escuale de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela Carlos Walter, Investigador CENDES, Universidad Central de Venezuela Rafael Hidalgo, The Open University, UK Alvaro Rotondaro Gomez, Abogado Werner Corrales Leal, former ambassador to
the UN and the WTO in Geneva; former professor at the Center for
Development Studies (CENDES) in Caracas; Senior Fellow at the
International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva
Tanya Miquilena; development specialist in andean countries Cheryl Riera Isaac Nahon Serfaty, Professor, Department of Communications, University of Otawa, Canada Barbara Bessone
Hayde Deutsch,Abogada, Mcs en Seguridad Social, Docente Universitaria, Presidenta de Fuerza Liberal Carlos Alberto Moros Ghersi, Medico, Profesor UCV, ex-Rector Universidad Central de Venezuela Jackie Hines J. Scott Barnard, blogger Rachel Chonchol, another Venezuelan Citizen Jorge Mostany, Profesor Titular del Departamento de QuÃÂÂÂmica,
Universidad Simon Bolivar, Miembro de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas,
Matematicas y Naturales Rosalba Guerra, Ingeniero Robert Bottome, Editor, Veneconomy Nathalie Brogan Soledad Gutierrez, Comunicador Social Adele Mondolfi, Abogado, Investigadora Artes Plasticas, UCV Luis Felipe Cabana, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Maria J. Diaz M. Clemy Machado de Acedo, Profesora Jubilada UCV Pedro Vaca Gonzalez, Ingeniero de yacimientos, ex-investigador de
PDVSA-Intevep (despedido por razones poliÂÂÂticas). Rosalba Guerra V. J. Los Arcos Ayape, Journalist Mercedes H. Rosas, Investigador Ramon y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla Miguel Albujas Dorta, Profesor-Investigador del Instituto de Filosofia de la Universidad Central de Venezuela Paul Esqueda, Prof, of Engineering Penn State University Dorian Dyer Duke Banks Romero, Public Administration Specialist Andres Dominguez Burgos Roberto Rodriguez Abreu, Fundacion Jardin Botanico, Merida Daphne Paul, writer Jerry Diaz Tomas Paez, Profesor Titular Universidad Central de Venezuela, Coordinador Observatorio PYME de Venezuela
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