PMBComments | Venezuela's government robs because there is no consequence: Leopoldo Lopez barred from really running

The following message was written by Harvard Internationalist Pedro Mario Burelli reacting to Hugo Chavez blocking former Mayor Leopoldo Lopez from running as presidential candidate not respecting the verdict of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court) in favor of the political leader:

The 'Leopoldo Lopez' case (updated in WSJ article below) is the perfect proof that the Venezuelan crisis does not have a rosy electoral ending in sight.The cost of losing the election is way too high for the narcothugs running, or should one say ruining, Venezuela. The consequences of getting the boot are certainly much higher than the political cost of harassing the most credible electoral opponents. The Cubans have probably convinced Mr. Chavez that there is no cost whatsoever to pay in a region in which most of the elected governments (from Washington to Santiago) live in constant fear of Bolivarian insults or meddling in their internal affairs. And the Cubans are right, silence will only be broken by tepid toothless statements. The human rights violators in Caracas also will not get any real opposition from the hapless Secretary General of the OAS, the CHILEAN Jose Miguel Insulza, who got elected and reelected to the job with the express commitment not to inconvenience Mr. Chavez. over the last few month Mr. Insulza has used every trick in the book to reduce the independence of the highly respected Interamerican Commission on Human Rights. He has stated in the past that he will not be the Secretary General that presides over an ALBA walkout of the organization, and in order to ensure that, he will obviously allow all the tenets of the organization to be trashed by those same members. What a travesty, what a sorry spectacle we are witnessing on the 10th anniversary of the Interamerican Democratic Charter. PMB

Venezuelan Court Bars Opposition Contender

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204479504576637521122822568.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Maru Angarita
My blog is: www.maruangarita.blogspot.com