During a master class on human rights given at the Caracas City Hall, Attorney General Tarek William Saab recalled that in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, a real form of state terrorism was applied.
This, he said, led to historic massacres such as those in Yumare (1966), Cantaura (1982) or El Caracazo (1989). In this regard, he stressed that with the arrival of President Hugo Chávez, the protection of Human Rights (DDHH) was claimed after the approval of the new Magna Carta.
Reviewed historical advances
*Attorney General Tarek William Saab gave a master class on human rights at the Caracas City Hall*(Caracas, July 18, 2024) During his speech, the Attorney General of the Republic recalled the progress made in the protection of human rights… pic.twitter.com/aO94BI4kA5
— Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) July 19, 2024
“They wanted to present him as a dictator, a tyrant; I remember that they said he was a ‘face painted’ and so many negative things (…). He trusted me and gave primacy to human rights since, that Title III that you see in the Constitution; 50 or 60 percent of it was the draft that he presented to the National Constituent Assembly,” commented the senior official.
In this same vein, he stressed that Chavez “was a patriotic soldier, a broadly humanist. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be here. Venezuela would still be a US colony and the state terrorism that was established as a system of government would still be practiced.”
Repressive policy as the icing on the cake for human rights
Regarding the repressive policies implemented by governments of those years, Saab recalled the impunity enjoyed by police and military bodies in the commission of forced disappearances, murders, torture, among other crimes committed against ordinary people; opponents, left-wing political and social figures; as well as people allegedly linked to the armed insurgency.
For this reason, the head of the criminal action in the country called on the police officers present to review history, learn about it and prevent such practices from being emulated in these times.
“We cannot repeat the bad practices of these people from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. That is prohibited, gentlemen. The complaints for violations of human rights have decreased significantly, it is true; but we must eradicate them 100% so that only good police practices remain, laudable actions in the fight against crime, organized crime, drug trafficking and all that we already know,” said the Attorney General, who reviewed part of the master class on his account on the X network.
In this regard, he praised the daily work carried out by the security forces and auxiliary bodies of justice to combat crime, always in compliance with the legal system.
“I am convinced of the proportional use of force. So much so, that we put it in the laws and the Constitution because it did not exist before. That is a principle.” However, he called for avoiding abuse of power by officials who temporarily hold responsibilities as State officials: “Each one of us has a family, as Attorney General I think I must act well every day, afternoon and night. If I make a mistake, I must correct it. Just because I have a weapon or a credential as a judge or prosecutor does not mean I can abuse that power unnecessarily,” he observed.
In this regard, he recalled the process of purging and restructuring that he carried out within the Public Prosecutor’s Office under the mandate of the National Constituent Assembly.
The institution’s top spokesman recalled that “we have 122 circulars. We are going to make a book/manual with all of this so that it is made public how to act in this country. Enough already, let no one say they didn’t know. A prosecutor cannot be involved in that. Ah, because in previous administrations they were allowed to do whatever they wanted.”
Prosecutor Saab concluded his speech by discussing the importance of setting an example in life in order to leave a transcendent legacy. “The world is thousands of years old, and the life expectancy, perhaps the longest, is one hundred years. The world will continue to exist beyond us, but the example we set will remain beyond physical life,” he concluded.
