Essay On Venezuela

737 Words2 Pages

The concentration of power under President Hugo Chávez has taken a heavy toll on human rights in Venezuela. School students and people are getting assaulted everyday, there is definitely a lack of fairness or human rights. It is in human nature, when we get more power we tend to abuse it weather its for good or bad. In this case, the power is being used in the wrong way. Director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, José Miguel Vivanco said “For years, President Chávez and his followers have been building a system in which the government has free rein to threaten and punish Venezuelans who interfere with their political agenda.” People are being punished if they go against the government or have a different view about the government …show more content…

This report was about how democratic institutions and human rights guarantees had suffered during the first decade of Chávez’s presidency. Since then, the human rights situation in the country has become even more precarious. Among the detained in Maracaibo, Zulia State, was Televisa journalist Henry Villasmil. Video evidence shows officers of the Bolivarian National Guard assaulting Villasmil and knocking him to the ground. According to local NGO Venezuelan Penal Forum, the reporter was released soon afterwards. This is just one of the many examples of what is going on here and what the situation is. Hundreds of people are protesting in Venezuela and the assaults continue. Since 1821, corruption has always existed in Venezuela. In the 18th and 19th centuries the amount of government corruption wasn’t a straight line and it all depended on who was in office. Now with Chávez, the corruption is off the charts and reaching levels never seen before. The a big piece of the corruption stems from the oil revenues. In the eight years of Chávez’s presidency, the government has received between $175 and $225 billion from just oil and new debt alone. Chávez was almost solely on an anti corruption campaign and not it has just now became the norm and takes over all aspects of life in Venezuela. People almost have no privacy

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