Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 11 May 2017

Rising use of military tribunals alarms Venezuela activists

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO elan authorities to asphyxi- Many rights activists see nation’s domestic affairs. dence.
FABIOLA SANCHEZ ate the growing protests the increasing reliance on At least 38 people have She was the first official to
Associated Press and terrorize any person military tribunals to try civil- been killed in more than a denounce a March ruling
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) who contemplates the pos- ian protesters as an echo of month of protests demand- by the loyalist Supreme
— Jhonny Reyes’ son left sibility of expressing opin- the dark days of the 1970s ing new elections and in Court that stripped the op-
the house to join students ions,” said Erika Guevara and 1980s, when military anger over triple-digit infla- position congress of its last
in an anti-government pro- powers, calling it a “rup-
test a few days ago, one ture” of the constitutional
of hundreds of thousands order, helping prompt the
of angry people who have court to back off the ruling.
flooded Venezuela’s streets While many officials
in demonstrations often have indiscriminately de-
blocked by police and sol- nounced the demonstra-
diers. tors, she ordered at least 38
He wound up in front of a detained protesters to be
military tribunal, accused freed for lack of evidence.
of inciting rebellion and The crimes those in Zulia are
facing up to 30 years be- being accused of don’t
hind bars. constitute military offenses,
Reyes, who is blind, found her office wrote in a state-
himself pleading for infor- ment, “and furthermore,
mation outside Punto Fijo those being tried are not
naval base with relatives of military officials, for which
17 other young adults de- reason it could be wrong to
tained in the same demon- try them in that jurisdiction.”
stration in the western city Nearly all of those facing
of Coro. military courts face the
Many had obtained pri- same two charges, ac-
vate attorneys, but none cording to attorneys: Incit-
was allowed inside to de- Bolivarian National Police officers ride away on a motorcycle with a detained anti-government ing rebelling and vilifying
fend the detainees, mostly protester, in Caracas, Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro’s administration is defending the use military officials.
students studying music of the military tribunals to try detained protesters, saying they are part of emergency measures Most of those cases so far
and medicine. Instead, the necessary to ensure national security against what they decry as foreign-backed attempts to are in the northern state
violently oust the socialist government from power.
youths were given a pub- (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) of Carabobo, where loot-
lic defender and ordered ers took off with crates of
transferred to a military jail beer and boxes of pasta
near Caracas, a more than Rosas Americas director for dictatorships in Chile, Brazil tion, vast food and medi- last week and one pro-
six-hour drive away. Amnesty International. and elsewhere bypassed cal supply shortages and tester was killed. Military
“What I can’t understand President Nicolas Maduro’s civilian jurisdictions to pros- soaring crime. The demon- officials have activated an
is why they’re putting him administration says the ecute political opponents strations have frequently emergency protocol there
in a military tribunal when courts are part of emer- accused of being national ended with police or troops known as Plan Zamora, few
he’s a civilian,” Reyes said, gency measures necessary security threats tied to inter- launching rubber bullets details of which have been
his voice hoarse with exas- to ensure national security national communism. and plumes of tear gas at made public.
peration. against what they decry as “The governments of Lat- protesters, some of whom Amnesty International said
Human rights activists say foreign-backed attempts in America have experi- have thrown rocks and Wednesday more than
more than 250 detained to violently oust the socialist enced this in the past, we even human excrement 250 people have been de-
protesters have been put government from power. have fought against im- back at police. tained and placed in the
before military justice over “Security agencies are de- punity and we have said, Hundreds have been in- hands of military justice.
the last week — a sudden ployed in Carabobo to ‘Never again,’” said Luis jured and more than 1,300 Alfredo Romero, executive
upsurge in use of a prac- find those responsible for Almagro, secretary gen- detained. director of Foro Penal, a
tice they say violates Ven- instigating rebellion and eral of the Organization of Some opposition leaders lawyers’ cooperative that
ezuela’s constitution, which crime,” wrote Antonio Jose American States. “We can- believe the use of the mili- defends activists, told Na-
limits military courts to “of- Benavides Torres, com- not remain silent in the face tary tribunals reflects Mad- tional Assembly members
fenses of a military nature.” mander of Venezuela’s of such obvious abuse of uro’s weakening grip on Tuesday that 118 people
Some lawyers and opposi- Bolivarian National Guard, the basic human rights of power and a desire to cir- in Carabobo alone have
tion leaders put the num- on Twitter after a week of Venezuelans.” cumvent someone who’s been put before military tri-
ber far higher. looting and protests in the Venezuela recently an- become a surprising irritant: bunals, where he said near-
“The growing use of military central Venezuelan state, nounced plans to with- Venezuela’s semi-autono- ly a dozen soldiers armed
tribunals to judge civilians where the bulk of the mili- draw from the Washington- mous chief prosecutor Lui- with automatic weapons
demonstrates the absolute tary tribunals thus far have based group, accusing it of sa Ortega, who has shown are posted in the court-
determination of Venezu- taken place. unjustly intervening in the signs of unusual indepen- room as cases are heard.q