The NGO, in a public statement, ruled this Thursday on “a current of opinion” that they estimate fosters “the idea of the futility and inopportuneness of the search for justice and exposing victims and their families to greater risks.”
“The obligations of truth, justice and reparation on the part of the State should not be minimized or seized in the name of the future, or of reforms that are insufficient, or of the search for better political, social and economic times,” recalls Cofavic in a statement. published this April 21, through their social networks.
The document is titled The obligations of truth, justice and reparation cannot be minimized or seized.and. Although they do not mention it explicitly in the letter, the position of the Committee of Relatives of Victims of the Caracazo (Cofavic) seems to add to the responses of other human rights organizations operating in Venezuela about the open letter to the United States government and President Joe Biden, dated April 14, signed by 25 Venezuelans.
«Cofavic considers it necessary to share his concern about the serious and irreversible consequences that could result from the impulse of a current of public opinion that seeks to offer political and economic solutions in exchange for the silencing of the voice of hundreds of victims of human rights violations and the denial of the pain they have suffered» .
“As an NGO – the document continues – founded by victims of the events of the Caracazo, which marked a before and after in our contemporary history; and as an organization that since 1989 has not stopped accompanying thousands of people whose human rights have been violated by the State during multiple and representative events, we believe that the entire country is currently facing a new historical turning pointa very delicate moment, given that the proposal for a future approach of political and social factors may relativize the possibilities of defeating impunity, by promoting the idea of the futility and inopportuneness of seeking justice and exposing victims and their families to greater risks.”
Letters to the USA
On Holy Thursday of this 2022, a group of 25 Venezuelans, including economists, politicians and intellectuals, sent a letter to the US president in which they requested “substantive negotiations” on Venezuela and warned about how the economic sanctions against the government of Nicolás Maduro « they did not achieve their goals.
The letter to President Biden has been an effort by vzlanos linked to different sectors of civil society, independent and without the participation of the political sector. If you feel identified with her you can endorse her here: https://t.co/DENkPNzq7R
– Luis Vicente Leon (@luisvicenteleon) April 14, 2022
four days later, another letter to the USheaded by the former mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma, requested the opposite: to reinforce the sanctions against Maduro and several members of his administration.
* Read: Penfold clarifies that letter to the US seeks to restore negotiations
Cofavic and human rights
The Committee of Relatives of Victims of the Caracazo (Cofavic) warns that from his perspective, «It is not possible to build well-being by ignoring so many wounds opened by the structural violence of the State, nor by ignoring the cry of mothers, fathers and entire families who have been systematically denied justice. Both International Law and our Constitution establish that neither serious human rights violations nor crimes against humanity prescribe, therefore, they are excluded from receiving any benefit, whether pardons or amnesties, that lead to impunity. This is not a coincidence, it is a historical result that obliges the States and society not to give up the development of independent, transparent and conclusive criminal investigations against those responsible for serious human rights crimes, once they have decided to establish new coexistence pacts. Truth and justice are indivisible and history has shown that comprehensive reparation is essential in those processes aimed at collectively overcoming a past marked by human rights violations.”
Lastly, he recalls that it was thanks to the complaints of the victims that various international protection mechanisms have been promoted for Venezuela, such as the International and Independent Mission to Determine the Facts or the special mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. UN Humans.
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of hundreds of victims of human rights violations and the denial of the pain they have suffered. As an NGO founded by victims of the Caracazo events (…) we believe that the entire country is currently facing a new historical turning point, a moment pic.twitter.com/hjehbxCGOl— COFAVIC (@COFAVIC) April 21, 2022
“Human rights are not subject to the will of minorities or majorities, they cannot be exchanged, and their violation should only be resolved in judicial courts and not in political instances.”
*Read: Podcast | 33 years after the Caracazo, “the end of the democratic illusion”
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