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

302035Z Jun 05

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001983 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2015 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS VE
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH NEW JUDICIAL NGO 
 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C)  Members of the newly constituted Venezuelan judicial 
NGO "Foro Penal" (Penal Forum) briefed the Ambassador June 23 
on their organizational goals and informed him of the group's 
work to date. The group released a report June 6 criticizing 
the politicization of the justice system in Venezuela and 
filed a motion with the Supreme Court June 27 condemning the 
March reform of the penal code. Leaders of the group told 
poloffs they intend to continue focusing attention on the 
deterioration of the rule of law in Venezuela. End Summary. 
 
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Foro Penal 
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¶2.  (C)  Foro Penal was founded by a group of Venezuela's 
most prominent defense lawyers, supported by alleged 
political prisoners and their family members. The group 
announced its formation at a June 6 press conference called 
to release a report criticizing the politicization of the 
Venezuelan justice system, and was formally constituted as an 
NGO on June 22. Monica Fernandez, founder of the Venezuelan 
judicial NGO Foro Penal (Penal Forum), briefed the Ambassador 
June 23 on the origins of the group. Three of the 13 defense 
attorneys who helped her establish the group, plus the wife 
of the former Secretary for Security of metropolitan Caracas 
under Mayor Alfredo Pena being held on allegedly political 
charges, accompanied Fernandez. Fernandez told the Ambassador 
the group was apolitical and committed to providing proof of 
the deterioration of the rule of law in Venezuela. She stated 
that the group had an ambitious agenda and limited resources. 
The Ambassador recommended that the group work to support 
broad concepts and principals, rather than focusing on 
individual cases. He suggested that the group seek 
broad-based funding and support, and suggested they present a 
specific proposal for AID funding, provided they were aware 
of the associated risks. 
 
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Justice System Report - Three Prosecutors Share the Pie 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶3.  (U)  Foro Penal's June 6 report criticizes the 
politicization of the justice system in Venezuela. Fernandez 
said Foro Penal delivered its report to President Chavez and 
the heads of public institutions. During the news conference 
releasing the report, Fernandez alleged that the judicial and 
prosecutorial authorities in Venezuela had progressively 
undermined the rule of law in Venezuela since the events of 
April 2002. For example, Fernandez said, Foro wanted to draw 
the public's attention to the abuses committed in the 
prosecution of over 400 persons for their alleged 
participation in the events of April 2002. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Foro Penal's report summarizes the various criminal 
proceedings opponents of President Hugo Chavez allege to be 
political, and documents violations of judicial and 
prosecutorial independence, including firings. Using graphs, 
the report demonstrates that less than 1% of Venezuela's 
prosecutors have all the political cases, and that three 
prosecutors are involved in all of them (Gilberto Landaeta, 
Luisa Ortega and Jose Benigno Rojas).  The graphs also 
indicate that the government is concentrating political cases 
in only three out of 49 Control Judges and two out of ten 
appeals courts, now under the rubric of the  "anti-terrorism" 
jurisdiction established following the assassination of 
prosecutor Danilo Anderson. 
 
¶5. (C) Fernandez told the Ambassador June 23 that GOV 
reaction to the report so far has been limited. The only 
official response has been Attorney General Isaias 
Rodriguez's accusation that the report is tied to the 
opposition since Foro Penal's members represent many of the 
alleged political prisoners. She said a pro-government 
legislator had warned them that what was coming was worse, 
and that the group had heard rumors of detentions and 
prohibitions to leave the country in the near future. 
 
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Penal Code Motion 
 
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¶6. (U) In its second action, Foro Penal filed a motion June 
27 with the Supreme Court (TSJ) arguing that the National 
Assembly's March 16 modification of the penal code is 
unconstitutional. The motion identifies approximately 30 
articles in the reform that directly conflict with the 
current constitution and therefore make the reform, according 
to Foro Penal, impossible to apply. The group has also 
publicly criticized the National Assembly's additional 
modifications of the penal code which passed a first reading 
June 21 for further limiting constitutional guarantees and 
conflicting with five laws currently in effect. 
 
¶7. (C) Fernandez told the Ambassador she believed the TSJ 
would reject the motion. Nonetheless, she said, it is 
important to create a public record of what was happening 
before it caused an implosion of the rule of law. She 
reported that Foro Penal had traced every article in the 
reform to a specific political event - strike, marches, etc. 
 
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Plans for the Future 
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¶8. (C) The group informed the Ambassador that they plan to 
request the resignation of Attorney General Rodriguez, 
because of his self-proclaimed inability to do his job and 
his politically partisan behavior. They also have two studies 
in the works. The first is a national census of victims of 
political persecution via criminal proceedings. So far the 
group claims to have documented 600 cases, but believes the 
figure many go as high as 1000. The second study involves the 
actions of judges in political cases that would track how 
many defense motions were rejected and how many prosecution 
motions were accepted. Foro Penal suggested that the figure 
was 95% rejected for the defense and 95% accepted for the 
prosecution. The group also plans to hold forums, especially 
among law students. 
 
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Comment 
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¶9.  (C)  The Foro Penal has gotten off to a good start. After 
months of failings and setbacks in their cases, and 
ineffectually protesting in the press that the GOV was 
abusing the rule of law, this group of lawyers formed common 
ground.  The use of graphs to display the concentration of 
political cases in the hands of just a few prosecutors and 
judges was a dramatic success.  The key to Foro's future 
success will be its ability to spread the message about the 
poor, politicized state of Venezuela's justice system. 
Fernandez is a convincing advocate, with an astute command of 
the facts. Herself a victim of the politicization of 
Venezuela's judiciary, having been suspended without pay 
earlier this year for her handling of a case related to the 
April 2002 events, she decided to put the focus on the larger 
picture and brought together the baker's dozen of defense 
lawyers whose individual efforts on political cases was 
diffuse. The project they have embarked upon is new territory 
for all of them. We will maintain contact to see how we can 
help this, and other emerging groups call attention to the 
threat to the rule of law in Venezuela. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2005CARACA01983 - CONFIDENTIAL