Urgent Action to protect Venezuelan environmentalist and human rights defender

Urgent Action to protect Venezuelan environmentalist and human rights defender

Venezuelan Programme for Education and Action in Human Rights (Provea)

Thursday 16 December 2004

(Espanol abajo)

The Venezuelan Programme for Education and Action in Human Rights (Provea) denounces to the national and international community the threats made against the human rights defender Professor Lusbi Portillo by the President of the State-owned corporation Corpozulia-Carbozulia, Brigade General Carlos Martínez and by the engineer Juan Rojas, an officer of the Venezuelan Government’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The Facts

On 8 December 2004, during the discussions of Committee No.2 (on agricultural issues and the struggles of small farmers) of the ‘Bolivarian Congress of Peoples’ held recently in Venezuela, the President of the Venezuelan company responsible for coal extraction in the state of Zulia, Corpozulia-Carbozulia, Brigade General Carlos Martínez publicly made serious accusations against leading ecologists in this frontier state and in particular against human rights defender and ecologist Professor Lusbi Portillo.

General Martínez’ actual words were: “Just as there existed a human rights mafia in Venezuela, environmentalists formed a green mafia. Behind this green mafia, opposed to the exploitation of coal in the Sierra de Perijá, were the counter revolutionaries and the transnational companies, and it was directed by the CIA.” He singled out the human and environmental rights defender Lusbi Portillo for particularly damning criticism, manipulating statements made by Portillo in opposition to coal mining projects in the region and reported in the Zulia state newspaper ‘The Truth’.

Afterwards, on 11 December, a meeting was held involving representatives of Irish coal mining company Brendan Hynes, Corpozulia and the Ministry of Energy and Mines. These people called together the inhabitants of the Parish of Monseñor Godoy in the municipality of Mara in Zulia, to seek the community’s help for the coal mining companies which are going to be exploiting coal in the area at the Socuy and Cachiri mines and the Caño Seco coal deposit. This meeting was chaired by the engineer Juan Rojas, an officer of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) who is attached to the Ingeominas agency. This officer publicly stated that Professor Lusbi Portillo was ‘a terrorist who robbed MEM of three vehicles in Machiques for financial gain’; later during the event, microphone in hand, he continued making indirect allusions to the presence of Professor Portillo in the meeting.

These remarks endanger the life and integrity of activists in the ecological and human rights movement in Zulia.

Professor Lusbi Portillo is Co-ordinator of the non-governmental organisation ‘Homo et Natura’, dedicated to the defence of the environment. He is a professor of the University of Zulia and an associate member of the Assembly of the Venezuelan Programme for Education and Action in Human Rights (Provea) with a high profile in the movement to defend human rights. The threatening remarks made by General Carlos Martínez and by Juan Rojas become more serious and dangerous if we take into account the fact that they were made in a frontier zone under the influence of Plan Colombia, where guerrilla and paramilitary incursions against the civil population are common and current. It is sufficient to recall the assassination by two hired assassins, still unpunished, of the Co-ordinator of the Vicariate of Human Rights in Machiques, Joe Castillo, on 26 August 2003. Public threats against a leading ecologist with the history and level of public recognition of Professor Lusbi Portillo, committed to the struggles of Indigenous Peoples for their lands and the conservation of the forests and waters of the state of Zulia, constitute a clearly hostile act, intended to instil terror, and this is unacceptable in a democratic society.

Provea condemns these antidemocratic acts on the part of public officials and calls for a public demonstration against them. These acts not only seek to inhibit the activity of communities affected by current and planned mining projects but could be interpreted as a green light to state or private actions which could endanger the life and integrity of Lusbi Portillo and other leaders of the ecological and human rights movements in the Zulia region.

1. That the life and physical and psychological integrity of Professor Lusbi Portillo be guaranteed.

2. Send a letter to the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, asking him to investigate the statements made by Brigade General Carlos Martínez and the Ingeominas official, Juan Rojas, confirming the right of individuals and communities to express their criticisms of government projects which damage their human and environmental rights.

3. Send a letter to the Minister of Energy and Mines, Rafael Ramírez, asking him to investigate the statements made by Brigade General Carlos Martínez and the Ingeominas and Minsitry of Energy and Mines official, Juan Rojas.

4. Write to the Defensoría del Pueblo (Human rights ombudsman) to complain about these facts, asking him to issue a public condemnation of the conduct of these government officials and to seek protection for Lusbi Portillo and other activists in the human rights and environmental movements in the state of Zulia.

5. Write to the Fiscalía General (Attorney General’s Office) of the Republic complaining about these facts and asking him to launch an official investigation into the events denounced in this urgent action request.

6. Send a copy of your letters to Provea at the following address: Bulevar Panteón, Puente Trinidad a Tienda Honda, Edif. Centro Plaza Las Mercedes, PB, Local 6. Caracas, Venezuela; and/or by email to accionurgente@provea.org.ve