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### Viewing cable 05CARACAS2404, REACTION TO IACHR VARGAS DECISION

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05CARACAS2404 | 2005-08-08 19:47 | 2011-03-14 18:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Caracas

Appears in these articles:
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-12/Investigacion/NotasDestacadas/Investigacion2711772.aspx
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-10/Investigacion/NotasDestacadas/Investigacion2707705.aspx
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-10/Investigacion/NotasSecundarias/Investigacion2707712.aspx
http://www.nacion.com/2011-03-10/Investigacion/NotasSecundarias/Investigacion2707716.aspx

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 002404

    SIPDIS

    NSC FOR CBARTON
    USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014
    TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI CS VE
    SUBJECT: REACTION TO IACHR VARGAS DECISION

    REF: STATE 01544

    Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION JOHN CREAMER 1.4 (d)

    -------
    SUMMARY
    -------

    ¶1. (C) The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR)
    passed a resolution accepting Venezuela's admission of
    responsibility for all charges in the case of Blanco Romero y
    Otros vs. Venezuela.  The Inter-American Commission on Human
    Rights (the Commission) and representatives for the victims
    (the defense) alleged that the GOV had violated articles of
    the Inter-American Charter on Human Rights (the Charter)
    protecting life, personal integrity and liberty, and had
    failed to provide judicial remedies sufficient to protect
    those rights.  The GOV's written concession June 28
    contradicted allegations regarding due process and state
    responsibility, and was rejected by the defense. However the
    court, after clarifying the nature of the GOV's concession
    via oral testimony, passed a resolution accepting the
    concession.  Venezuelan human rights leaders viewed the
    hearing as a validation of the victims' families quest for
    justice.  Still, the GOV's subsequent attempts to cloud its
    ultimate responsibility in the public's eye cast doubt as to
    whether the GOV was acting in good faith.  The ultimate test
    of GOV intentions will be whether it complies with the
    IACHR's sentence which is expected this fall.  End summary.

    -----------------------------------
    Commission Brings Case Before IACHR
    -----------------------------------

    ¶2. (U) The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the
    Commission) brought the case of Blanco Romero y Otros vs.
    Venezuela before the IACHR in June 2004.  The Commission's
    allegations in the suit stemmed from the forced
    disappearances of Oscar Blanco Romero, Roberto Hernandez Paz
    and Jose Rivas Fernandez following a natural disaster in the
    Vargas region in 1999, when torrential rains and mudslides
    left approximately 20,000 dead and resulted in widespread
    lawlessness.  According to testimony provided by the victim's
    families to the Inter-American Court, security forces -
    tasked by the GOV with maintaining public order - arrested
    Blanco, Hernandez and Rivas during its round-up of looting
    suspects. None of the victims was seen by their families
    again and, after the GOV's investigations stalled and
    separate Venezuelan courts ruled against motions of habeas
    corpus, the victim's families turned to the Commission to
    obtain justice in the case.

    ¶3. (U) The Commission charged the GOV with the violation of
    the victims' rights to life, integrity and liberty under the
    Charter.  For its failure to properly investigate and
    prosecute the victims' disappearances, the Commission also
    charged the GOV with violating Article 8 (Judicial
    Guarantees) and Article 25 (Judicial Protection) of the same
    charter.  The Commission requested that the IACHR issue a
    declaration of state responsibility for the charges dealing
    with personal integrity and judicial guarantees contained
    under Articles 5, 8 and 25.  The suit brought by the
    Commission also noted that the GOV had violated several
    articles under the Inter-American Charter on Forced
    Disappearances and the Inter-American Charter on the
    Prevention and Sanctioning of Torture.

    -----------------------------------------
    Defense Cites GOV For Lack Of Due Process
    -----------------------------------------

    ¶4. (U) In October 2004, representatives of the victims and
    the victims' families (the defense) presented several more
    allegations against the GOV before the IACHR.  Most of the
    defense's additional charges centered on the lack of due
    process in the case. The defense charged the GOV with
    "violating the families' and Venezuelan society's right to
    the truth" as to what occurred in Vargas in December 1999
    under articles 1, 8, 13, 25 and of the Charter.  The defense
    also alleged that the GOV had not fulfilled its duty to
    provide Venezuelans with judicial recourse sufficient to
    guarantee those human rights protected by the Charter and to
    abolish practices which violated those rights.

    -------------------------------------
    GOV 'Ignorant' As To IACHR Procedures
    -------------------------------------

    ¶5. (C) The GOV offered no response to the allegations in its
    contra although, according to IACHR procedures, it should
    have filed a written response to the suit with the court.
    Despite the GOV's lack of response, the Court convened public
    hearings on the case June 27 and 28 to finalize the
    allegations against the GOV and admit witness and expert
    testimony into the court's record. Carlos Ayala, a lawyer for
    the defense, informed poloff July 11 that one week prior to
    the hearings, the GOV offered to sign a friendly agreement to
    forgo the public hearing.  Ayala stated that the GOV's lack
    of response and last minute offer betrayed an overall
    ignorance of how to function in an international context
    governed by set rules and procedures.  The defense rejected
    the GOV's offer and the case proceeded as planned to oral
    hearings held June 27 and 28.

    ------------------------------
    GOV Concedes To All Charges...
    ------------------------------

    ¶6. (C) On June 28, after the court had heard witness and
    expert testimony on the events which occurred in Vargas in
    December 1999, representatives of the GOV elected to read a
    written letter of concession in lieu of presenting oral
    arguments.  Ayala told poloff July 11 that the GOV's
    concession at that point in the proceedings was a surprise.
    The normal process is for a concession to be made at the
    beginning of the hearings and not after testimony.

    ¶7. (U) The GOV's concession began by stating that it
    "conceded to the allegations made in the suit against the
    State of Venezuela and accepted in good faith its
    international responsibility in this case."  The GOV
    specified that as a consequence of this concession it
    recognized its commitment to reparations including the
    indemnization of the victim's families, a guarantee of no
    repetition, and the obligation to investigate the case and to
    punish those responsible.  The GOV made no mention of
    judicial reform, which the Commission had specifically
    requested.

    --------------
    ...Or Does It?
    --------------

    ¶8. (C) Ayala told poloff July 11 that the GOV's written
    concession also contradicted several key charges in its
    contra.  The GOV stated that it had begun a serious
    investigation and initiated judicial remedies to find those
    responsible for the disappearances "without losing any time"
    after Vargas tragedy in December 1999.  The GOV also asserted
    that there was no lapse of justice as regards the
    representation's denied motions of habeas corpus, and that
    the Venezuelan courts acted "strictly according to the law
    and constitution" in issuing those decisions.  These two
    points contradicted allegations regarding the lack of due
    process on the case.

    ¶9. (U) The GOV's written concession also denied state
    responsibility for the violations committed in Vargas.  After
    noting that the GOV had reformed the Venezuelan penal code to
    bring it in line with the Inter-American Charter on Forced
    Disappearances and promising to conclude the investigations
    of the disappearances of those cited in the case, the GOV
    asked the court to declare that the violations in Vargas
    resulted from "the isolated conduct of low ranking officials
    that could in no way be attributed to orders issued down the
    chain of command of the Venezuelan government."

    -------------------------------------------
    Defense Asks Court To Reject GOV Concession
    -------------------------------------------

    ¶10. (C) Jose Gregorio Guarenas, one of the lawyers present
    for the defense, told poloff July 12 that the defense
    requested a recess to review the GOV's written concession.
    Upon review, the defense asked the IACHR to reject the GOV's
    written concession because it contradicted important

    allegations against the GOV and therefore did not qualify as
    a concession as outlined by article 53.2 of the IACHR's
    regulations. Guarenas stated that instead of passing the case
    to sentencing as requested by the defense, the court decided
    to take the oral testimony of the GOV in order to clarify the
    nature of its written concession.

    --------------------------------------------- ------
    GOV Testifies To Full Responsibility Before IACHR...
    --------------------------------------------- ------

    ¶11. (C) In answer to the questions posed by the court, the
    GOV testified that it fully accepted the facts of the case as
    well as the allegations against it.  The court noted the GOV
    "acting on good faith, accepted its international
    responsibility in this case" and had made a full concession.
    Defense attorney Liliana Ortega told Poloff July 12 that the
    GOV's written concession was a media stunt designed to cloud
    the issue in the public's mind, but that in the view of the
    court, the GOV had made a full concession.  Still, she noted
    that the GOV's written concession as well as its oral
    testimony were recorded as part of the IACHR's resolution on
    the case.

    --------------------------------------------- ---------
    ...But GOV Leaders Present Different Picture To Public
    --------------------------------------------- ---------

    ¶12. (C) Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez speaking to press
    July 29 stated that the IACHR decision ""did not condemn
    Venezuela, but rather established an important distinction
    between some officers acting individually and the state."
    Rodriguez added the Public Ministry was investigating those
    functionaries who had committed excesses.  The President of
    the Supreme Court Omar Mora Diaz told the press July 29 that
    in admitting that human rights violations had occurred in
    Vargas, Venezuela had demonstrated that it was a responsible
    state.  Furthermore, Mora continued, authorities were asked
    to control the situation with regard for human rights, but
    "this isn't to say that some low-level functionary might not
    have committed some outrage."  Carlos Ayala told Poloff July
    11 that he was concerned by public statements made by GOV
    officials alleging a lack of state responsibility for Vargas
    and that he planned to submit these reports to the IACHR.

    -------
    Comment
    -------

    ¶13. (C) The GOV's concession on Vargas appears to be driven
    more by a lack of alternatives than a desire to make amends.
    The GOV conceded to cover a weak case, and then attempted to
    spin its concession to the court and the Venezuelan public as
    an act of good faith.  GOV remarks to the public denying
    state responsibility directly conflict with its concession to
    the court.  IACHR sentencing is due this fall, and the
    defense has requested reparations which extend beyond the
    financial to include guarantees of non-repetition. This would
    imply real judicial reform. Whether or not the GOV makes
    these amends will be a far more telling indication of its
    good faith than its concession to the court.
    Brownfield

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          2005CARACA02404 - CONFIDENTIAL

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