HRF Declares Venezuelan Union Leader Rubén González a Prisoner of Conscience; Labor Organizations Join HRF in Demanding His Immediate Release

NEW YORK (January 21, 2011) – On the one-year anniversary of his imprisonment, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) declares Rubén González a prisoner of conscience and demands his immediate release.

González, 51, a Venezuelan union leader, was imprisoned after he led a 15-day strike calling for the state-owned CVG Ferrominera Orinoco C.A. (Ferrominera) corporation, to fulfill a labor agreement. HRF’s declaration was accompanied by the publication of a legal report that concludes that González was accused, detained, imprisoned and prosecuted exclusively for exercising his right to freedom of association for labor purposes. His case is the seventh in HRF’s “Caracas Nine” campaign.

“The Chávez government claims to be in favor of workers’ rights, but these do not include the rights of the tens of thousands of Venezuelans working in state-owned corporations,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. “In his position as Ferrominera’s main union leader, González led thousands of workers on a peaceful strike. The government’s response was to send him to prison and begin his prosecution,” said Halvorssen.

On August 12, 2009, González, secretary general of Ferrominera’s largest union (Sintraferrominera), led approximately 2,000 workers on a strike to protest the company’s failure to comply with a labor agreement signed on January 5, 2009, and ratified later that year. The protest ended two weeks later, when Radwan Sabbagh, president of Ferrominera, signed an agreement with González to end the strike in exchange for the company’s commitment to fulfill its obligations. On September 24, 2009, after almost 27 years of working at Ferrominera, González was detained on charges of unlawful assembly, public incitement to commit crimes, violation of the freedom to work and violation of a security zone. Two days later, a judge ordered González to be placed under house arrest, where he remained until January 21, 2010, when a different judge ordered that he be sent to prison.

“The ongoing trial against González is yet another instance of the continuing criminalization of legitimate union activities in Venezuela. Prosecutors and judges are working in tandem to strip Venezuelan laws of their power to protect the people. They are doing this to serve the Chávez government’s interest in silencing dissent,” said Javier El-Hage, general counsel of HRF. “This case is open and shut—González’s trial violates the international legal standard of protection of freedom of association for labor purposes,” El-Hage stated.

On January 22, 2010, the National Labor Union of Public Workers of the Venezuelan Corporation of Guyana filed a formal complaint to the Committee on Freedom of Association of the International Labor Organization (ILO) regarding the case of González. On November 19, 2010, the ILO requested that the Venezuelan government release González “without delay pending judgment” and that González be “appropriately compensated for his inappropriate detention.” As of today, González remains in prison.

The persecution of workers for participating in union activities is just one type of human rights violation that occurs in the context of widespread criminalization of social protest in Venezuela. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has called upon Venezuela “to refrain from subjecting to judicial processes [those] labor leaders who are exercising that right legitimately and peacefully.” According to figures from the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action on Human Rights (PROVEA), in the last five years more than 2,240 protestors in Venezuela have been subjected to criminal prosecution, including a wide range of restrictive measures of deprivation of personal liberty, as an alternative to imprisonment. In 2009 alone, 754 protesters that participated in public protests were detained.

“González’s case is emblematic of the dire situation of human rights and highly eroded state of democracy in Venezuela,” said Halvorssen. “The government must release him and stop treating dissent as a crime,” he concluded.

Thomas R. Donahue, President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO, and Chairman of the Committee for Free Trade Unionism (CFTU) issued a statement joining HRF and concluding the Venezuelan state “should end this mockery of its own court system and free Ruben Gonzalez.”

The case of Ruben González is the seventh documented through HRF’s Caracas Nine campaign, a project aimed at raising international awareness about the cases of individuals who are the targets of harassment, judicial persecution or imprisonment for expressing critical opinions or exercising human rights against the will of the Venezuelan government.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Václav Havel, Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Javier El-Hage, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org

Read Rubén González’s case summary here.
Read the full report on his case here.