Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Nixon Moreno case: Political Persecution is alive and well in Chavez' revolution One of the things that has characterized the judicial system under Chavez has been its ability to follow orders from above to exact revenge from its enemies. Whether accusing its enemies of corruption for minutiae while protecting its own, to outright persecution, the limits to which Chavismo has gone in some cases should put shame to those that claim to support the revolution. The latest case is that of Nixon Moreno. Moreno is a student leader of the M-13 movement from the Universidad de Los Andes. Chavismo has been unable to win many student body elections since Chavez took power in 1998, but at the University of Los Andes it managed a win at the first election held, but the second time around Nixon Moreno was the candidate and Chavismo lost. Last year, The Venezuelan Supreme Court suspended the elections, which Moreno eventually won running away a few weeks later. Since universities are considered autonomous, it was considered an intromission into the affairs of the University to do so. Moreno won anyway and soon afterwards he was charged with four different crimes, from rape to political intimidation in what was clearly an act of revenge. Moreno sought refuge at the Vatican’s representation in Caracas. The Vatican later requested safe passage for Moreno out of the country, which the Prosecutor refused to grant, arguing that Moreno was a common criminal and not a political case. Moreno has been living there for months and two weeks ago, the authorities from the University of Los Andes went there to grant him his Bachelors degree in political science. Moreno had completed all but one of the courses for his Bachelors degree and the university admitted his time at the Vatican’s representative as the practical training he needed to graduate together by a course he completed online. Immediately a group of Professors from that University asked that Moreno’s degree be voided because nowhere is the Law of Universities is it approved that students can take a course via the Internet. Strange argument in a country which has an open university called Universidad Nacional Abierta where all courses are studied remotely. Immediately after this, the National Assembly ordered and investigation on Mr. Moreno’s graduation, going as far as prohibiting the public registration of Moreno’s degree and saying the decree was given to him in “irregular fashion” without anyone pointing out what the irregularity was. Soon after the outgoing Prosecutor General Isaias Rodriguez, who has directed been the leader of political persecution during Chavez’ years, opened an investigation and actually said he would attempt to void Moreno’s degree. Of course, the same people and institutions persecuting Mr. Moreno, are the same ones that have done very little since last August to find out about the Maletagate case, in which laws written by the current National Assembly were actually violated. We don’t know yet who provided the US$ 800,000 in cash, how it got through customs on the way out, who was the mastermind behind it and why there were PDVSA employees in that flight, besides the presence of Guido Antonini, who worked for none of the organizations involved. But that is how political persecution works in autocratic regimes, you go after your enemies with the full force of the judicial system, even if there are no basis for the charges, while at the same time you protect your own even if the illegalities or corruption are blatant and staring you in the face. Moreno’s case is just another one in a long string of persecution cases, all supported by Chavez and his outgoing General Prosecutor. While some may question the earlier charges against Moreno, it is after all his word against that of a policewoman, the ridiculous attempt to stop him from graduating, should shame those that support Chavismo and proves, once again, that political persecution is alive and well in the Chavista revolution. 8:49:15 PM    comment []