Venezuelan gov't required to protect human rights advocate

[naaman fletcher]

In a press release, Human Rights Watch Director for the Americas Miguel Vivanco termed as "completely unacceptable" Venezuelan authorities' hostility towards Humberto Prado, the director of Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (VOP), and other activists.

Vivanco recalled that Prado was accused by Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice Tareck El Aissami of inciting inmates from prisons El Rodeo I and II, east Caracas, to rebellion. Soon later, Prado began receiving death threats over the phone against his family and himself. For this reason, he accepted an invitation from Amnesty International to travel to Europe, where he remained over the past few weeks. As soon as he returned from Europe, Prado received an e-mail containing a photo of a presumed inquest into high treason and solicitation to crime initiated by the Attorney General Office.

http://www.eluniversal.com/2011/08/30/venezuelan-govt-required-to-protect-human-rights-advocate.shtml

An actual, functioning democracy?