US embassy cable - 05CARACAS670

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000670 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, VE 
SUBJECT: HOW DARE YOU! GOV REACTS TO HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 
 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (C)  Venezuelan government officials reacted angrily to 
the release of the Human Rights Report February 28.  Vice 
President Juan Vicente Rangel said the USG lacked "moral 
authority" to talk about human rights, and accused the USG of 
being the country that most violated human rights, alleging 
"thousands" of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Rangel and 
Human Rights Ombudsman German Mundarain said the report had 
been politically manipulated, with Mundarain suggesting the 
U.S. end game is to condemn Venezuela at the United Nations. 
We suspect that no one in the GOV had actually read the 
report before Rangel and Mundarain made these comments. 
Movimiento Quinta Republica Deputy Saul Ortega, President of 
the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, 
refuted some of the specific observations in the report in a 
conversation with poloff.  End Summary. 
 
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Moral Authority 
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2.  (U)  Venezuela's Vice President, Juan Vicente Rangel, 
reacted angrily to the release of the Human Rights Report 
(HRR), releasing a "declaration" on February 28.  Rangel 
repeated his condemnation later, telling reporters the USG 
did not have "moral authority" to judge other country's human 
rights records. He asserted that the USG tortures prisoners, 
maintains concentration camps, and reiterated that the U.S. 
is plotting to kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.  Rangel 
said the USG was "the government that most violates human 
rights, in its own country and in the world," by "killing 
thousands of people, as in Iraq and Afghanistan."  He called 
the report itself, "lies, more falsehoods and more hypocrisy." 
 
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Demonization 
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3.  (U)  Human Rights Ombudsman German Mundarain called the 
HRR the "appetizer" of a campaign to demonize Venezuela with 
an eye towards convincing the United Nations (UN) Third 
Committee to condemn Venezuelan human rights abuses.  Echoing 
Rangel, Mundarain told reporters March 1 that the USG lacked 
legal and moral authority to judge Venezuela.  He asserted 
that the HHR did not meet UN standards, because it did not 
mention economic and social rights, and because it did not 
make recommendations.  Mundarain criticized the USG of 
wanting to "assassinate" the Kyoto Treaty and the 
International Criminal Court, by not only refusing to sign 
them, but working to undermine their implementation. He 
further accused the USG of violating the Geneva Convention 
against torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.  Defending 
Venezuela, Mundarain asserted that the human rights situation 
had improved in the last year, without specifying how. 
 
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Situation Improving 
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4.  (C)  Movimiento Quinta Republica (MVR) Deputy Saul 
Ortega, President of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs 
Committee, told poloff March 2 that he had not read the 
report. Nonetheless, he said he did not agree that the human 
rights situation had deteriorated. Told that the report cited 
shortcomings in the independence of the judiciary and the 
control of the independent media, Ortega blamed the 
opposition. Had the opposition been willing to participate in 
the naming of the new Supreme Court justices, Ortega said, 
there would have been more balance.  Ortega claimed that when 
judges are fired, it is because the "people" have complained 
about them, and not for political reasons. Ortega insisted 
that the judiciary had become much better in the last few 
years due to investment in technology and facilities, 
asserting that for this reason an evaluation that the justice 
system had deteriorated was unjustified. 
 
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Comment 
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5.  (C)  The GOV's reaction to the Human Rights Report was as 
expected, although it is the first time we have seen a 
"declaration" emanating from the Vice President's office. 
The tendency to respond to USG statements, comments or 
activities with more forceful criticism of the USG has become 
a standard tactic of Rangel and the GOV.  There may be more 
commentary or criticism of the report once a Spanish 
translation becomes available.  (It is likely that only a few 
have bothered to read the English version now available.) 
For the moment, however, the GOV seems content to use offense 
as defense. 
Brownfield