The cause of Francisco Usón, one of the many prisoners being detained by Venezuelan strongman Chávez, has been taken up by the Human Rights Foundation.
A civilian critical of the government of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez continues to be imprisoned for having made a televised remark that angered the Venezuelan government. After an in-depth investigation, the Human Rights Foundation—a new international human rights organization based in New York—has published its findings and adopted Venezuelan political prisoner Francisco Usón as its first prisoner of conscience. HRF is concerned for Usón’s life after a bizarre set of medical errors almost killed him—twice.Posted by Alan at December 17, 2006 07:30 PMUsón, a retired army general, appeared on a Venezuelan television show on the morning of April 16, 2004. The program that day consisted of a discussion about punishment cells at a Venezuelan military base. On three separate occasions enlisted soldiers have been killed in fires inside punishment cells and in one particular incident, at Fort Mara military base, there were allegations that the soldiers had been burned with a flamethrower. On the show, Usón explained that he was a military engineer by training and answered technical questions about how a flamethrower operates. As for the Fort Mara case, he stated, “this is very, very serious, if it ends up being true.”
For that remark, Usón was detained by the National Guard on May 22, 2004, in Puerto Ordaz, State of Bolívar, Venezuela. Usón was in Puerto Ordaz to help collect signatures to petition the Venezuelan electoral council for a recall referendum focused on President Chávez.“This case is a sad indication of the climate of intolerance and repression in Venezuela. Freedom of speech and due process are under assault by the Chávez government; this is one illustrative case among many,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF). HRF has published a 9-page report on the case and posted relevant evidence and court documents on its website. Halvorssen stated, “Over the next few weeks we will begin a worldwide awareness campaign on behalf of Mr. Usón. Beginning with direct contact with the Venezuelan president, we shall take this case to recognized authoritative bodies as well as grassroots organizations. Mr. Usón’s imprisonment is a scandal and he must be freed. He is a prisoner of conscience and a political prisoner of the Venezuelan state.”