Defamation of Humberto Prado Sifontes
On 26 October 2016, Mr Humberto Prado Sifontes was once again the target of an ongoing smear campaign against human rights defenders animated by Venezuelan congressman Diosdado Cabello through his weekly TV show and online news outlet "Con El Mazo Dando".
Humberto Prado Sifontes is the Director of the Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones – OVP (Venezuelan Prisons Observatory). The OVP documents cases of violations against, and promotes the rights of, persons in detention in Venezuela.
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- 28 October 2016 : Ongoing smear campaign against Humberto Prado Sifontes
- 17 May 2016 : Hacking of social media account and defamation against human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes
- 14 February 2014 : Defamation campaign against human rights defender Mr Humberto Prado Sifontes and arbitrary detention of Mr Inti Rodriguez
- 8 May 2013 : Defamation campaign continues against human rights defender Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes
- 9 April 2013 : Public official makes defamatory statements about human rights defender Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes
- 23 June 2011 : Defamation of human rights defender Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes following statements by a public official
- 25 November 2010 : Stigmatisation of human rights defender Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes
- 11 June 2010 : Intimidation of human rights defender Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes and fear of attack
On 26 October 2016, Mr Humberto Prado Sifontes was once again the target of an ongoing smear campaign against human rights defenders animated by Venezuelan congressman Diosdado Cabello through his weekly TV show and online news outlet "Con El Mazo Dando".
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On 26 October 2016, congressman Diosdado Cabello alleged in his TV programme "Con El Mazo Dando", and then published an article in the show's online news outlet reiterating it, that Humberto Prado Sifontes receives funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), that he steals the funds, and that he sends them to a company registered in Panama under his wife's name. The website also claims that this imaginary company is dedicated to buying and selling arms. All of these allegations are false, including claims that the human rights defender receives funds from the NED. The false allegations against Humberto Prado Sifontes are presumably aimed at discrediting him and creating animosity towards him by accusing him of stealing and siphoning funds abroad at a time of economic and political crisis. The allegations are also consistent with a pattern of smear campaigns animated by Venezuelan public officials to stigmatise and criminalise civil society organisations who have international ties, receive foreign funding or make use of international and regional human rights mechanisms.
For the past five years, Humberto Prado Sifontes has been the target of constant smear campaigns and defamatory statements by public officials. Most recently, on 20 October 2016, Diosdado Cabello made more false allegations against the human rights defender in retaliation for his participation in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Previously, on 23 April 2016, Tareck El Aissami, the governor of the Aragua state and former MInister of Interior and Justice, slandered the human rights defender by suggesting he had a leadership role in prison gangs. On the same day, the Facebook account of the human rights defender was hacked and used to spread false and defamatory information.
Front Line Defenders condemns the false and defamatory allegations against human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes and his family, which it considers to be in retaliation to his legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders expresses its concern for the security of Humberto Prado Sifontes and his family, particularly as the allegations against the human rights defender take place in a climate of civil unrest and repression of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Given the current anti-government protests and the role of human rights groups in denouncing violations, human rights defenders expressed concern that they might soon be subjected to intensified harassment.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Venezuela to:
1. Ensure that all public officials involved in the smear campaign against human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes and his family members issue a public apology for the defamatory statements pronounced against him;
2. Take measures to ensure that government officials or other public figures refrain from making statements or declarations stigmatising the legitimate work of human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Venezuela are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.
On 23 April 2016, Tareck El Aissami, governor of the Aragua state and former Minister of Interior and Justice, slandered human rights defender Mr Humberto Prado Sifontes. On his Twitter account, he called Sifontes a pran, a negative term used to refer to inmate leaders who coordinate the gangs and are responsible for the violence inside the prisons. This followed the publication of an interview, where the human rights defender blamed El Aissami for the crisis within the prison system and where he spoke about the so-called pran mafia in Venezuelan jails.
On the same day, the Facebook account of the human rights defender was hacked and used to spread false and defamatory information. The hackers published several messages and a photograph alleging links between Sifontes and Polar C.A, a Venezuelan food and drinks company. The messages also accused the human rights defender of being a pran. Sifontes' Facebook profile picture was also visibly edited and changed to a photo of him with a gun in one hand and a Polar C.A. beer in the other one. After the Facebook account was hacked, the topic Polar C.A began trending on Twitter. One Tweet describing the human rights defender as a pran went viral and several accounts started using the hashtag #HumbertoPradoPranDePolar (Humberto Prado, Polar's pran).
Another image published on Twitter showed a private exchange of emails between the human rights defender and a person from Polar C.A. This indicates that possibly one of their accounts, or both, were hacked. Other tweets contained insults and defamatory messages against Humberto Prado Sifontes and his organisation. On 27 April 2016, the human rights defender filed a complaint to the Public Minister.
Sifontes has often been targeted and subjected to intimidation, smear campaigns and death threats. Public officials, including the president, have accused him of instigating violent incidents in the Venezuelan prisons. On 4 May 2016, Diosdado Cabello, former president of the National Assembly, attacked and discredited the human rights defender in his weekly television show Con El Mazo Dando. Cabello claimed that Sifontes was illegally receiving foreign funding, an activity that can be considered an act of treason against the State. These attacks expose the defender to higher risks and attacks by Cabello's supporters.
Threats against Humberto Prado began in June 2011, after the then Minister of Interior and Justice, Tareck El Aissami, said in a state television program that Humberto Prado had flagrantly lied about the situation in El Rodeo II prison. A day earlier, around 3,500 members of the National Guard had begun operations, which lasted several days, to control a violent riot in the prison, and the human rights defender had denounced the situation. Following El Aissami's statement, an anonymous blogger published Humberto Prado’s personal data, including his address and home telephone number, and death threats against him.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern at the hacking of the Facebook account, interception of private communications and continuous defamation against human rights defender Humberto Prado Sifontes, which it believes to be an attempt to delegitimise his work and stop him from carrying out his human rights work in Venezuela. The organisation is deeply concerned that such smear campaigns and public declarations can lead to more violent acts against human rights defenders in Venezuela.
On 13 February 2014, human rights defender Mr Humberto Prado Sifontes was victim of a smear campaign by the Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice, Gen. Miguel Rodríguez Torres. On the previous day at 9:30pm, another human rights defender, Mr Inti Rodríguez, was arbitrarily detained and physically attacked by security forces, allegedly part of the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional – SEBIN (Bolivarian National Intelligence Service) and of paramilitary groups from Western Caracas.
Humberto Prado Sifontes is the general coordinator for the Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones – OVP (Venezuelan Prison Observatory). Inti Rodriguez is the media coordinator with the Programa Venezolano de Educación y Acción en derechos humanos – PROVEA (Venezuelan Programme for Education and Human Rights Action), an organisation that works to improve and develop programmes in the defence of human rights.
On 13 February at noon, the Minister of Interior and Justice, Gen. Miguel Rodríguez Torres in a ministerial speech indicated that not only Humberto Prado Sifontes has been part of a conspiracy since 2010, he has also planned to destabilize the Venezuelan penitentiary system, in addition to being guilty of violent acts that have recently escalated in the country. On 19 and 30 March 2012, the human rights defender was present at the 144th Period of Sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Afterwards, on 20 and 31 March, he was invited to the “Plan Pais” event hosted at the Universities of Washington and George Washington. As an academic, he participated in order to propose solutions to the main problems of his country.
On 12 February 2014 afternoon, members of PROVEA denounced violations that had occurred during student marches on the same day, where at least three people were killed and over 60 injured. At 9:30pm, at a police checkpoint at the exit of Agua Salud metro station, armed civilian men who identified themselves as members of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and paramilitary groups from Western Caracas arbitrarily arrested Inti Rodriguez. They led him to another location, where approximately 20 people dressed in black interrogated and beat him, stealing his belongings and finally abandoning him in a street in Caracas, after threatening him and his family if he were to report on the assault.
Evidence shows that the acts of intimidation against Humberto Prado Sifontes and the assault and threats against Inti Rodrigues are directly related to their work in defence of human rights in Venezuela. Front Line Defenders is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of the human rights defenders and their families.
On 5 May 2013, the Venezuelan Minister for Justice and the Interior, General Miguel Rodríguez Torres, appeared on the Jose Vicente Hoy show on the private channel Televen, and accused human rights defender Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes of being part of a right-wing movement aiming to destabilise the state.
During the interview on 5 May 2013, Minister Rodríguez Torres outlined a conspiracy involving people from the human rights and NGO sectors, as well as extreme right-wing groups, which was allegedly intended to destabilise the state, radicalise young people and eventually stage a coup d'état.
The Minister claimed that Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes was involved in an event in Mexico in 2010 called the 'Fiesta Mexicana', in which a number of Venezuelan opposition figures are accused of planning to generate unrest in the country's prisons and promote and provoke violence around the elections.
The human rights defender has in fact only ever been in direct contact with one of the figures named as having attended the 'Fiesta Mexicana', Freddy Guevara, and that was in relation to the creation of the Luis Maria Olaso prize for human rights. Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes maintains that he travelled to Mexico not to take part in the 'Fiesta Mexicana', but at the invitation of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in order to submit a report.
On 8 April 2013, the Minister for the Prison Services, Ms Iris Valera, accused prominent human rights defender, Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes, of instigating violence within the country's prisons ahead of upcoming elections on 14 April.
On 8 April 2013, Minister Valera held a press conference at her office, during which she stated that on 3 April Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes had met with the families of prisoners in the Comunidad Penitenciaria de Coro (Community Penitenciary of Coro) in the Plaza Bolívar in the city of Coro, Falcón State. The Minister accused the human rights defender of planning protest actions within prisons all over the country, beginning with hunger strikes before escalating to blood strikes, where prisoners self-mutilate in order to bring attention to their situation.
She alleged that Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes quickly departed from the Plaza and went to the Diocesan of the Archbishop when he noticed the presence of officials from the Ministry of Prison Services who were there to investigate what was going on. She claimed to have found evidence for these plans in the notebooks of a prisoner. Minister Valera also linked the human rights defender to two unrelated incidents; one in which five women tried to smuggle grenades into the same prison, and a foiled escape attempt at the Metropolitan Prison Yare II in Caracas.
Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes was in fact in Coro to participate in two conferences organised by the University of Falcón. When the families of the prisoners heard of his presence in the State, they arranged to meet him in order to give him photographic and video evidence of torture in the prison.
Given the political climate in the run-up to elections in Venezuela, Front Line Defenders is seriously concerned that statements such as those made by the Minister could lead to reprisals against the human rights defender, up to and including physical attack.
Human rights defender, Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes, has been defamed in a number of media outlets, particularly online media, following statements made by a Government Minister. He has been accused of instigating violent incidents within the prison system in Venezuela in a renewed campaign to discredit the lawyer and his human rights activities.
On 18 June 2011, the Minister for Justice and the Interior, Mr Tareck El Aissami, speaking on State television channel Venezolana de Televisión, accused Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes of lying unashamedly about the situation in the El Rodeo II prison and linked him to opposition political groups. The statements came after violence broke out in the State penitentiaries Rodeo I and Rodeo II on 12 June 2011, when 22 persons were killed. Whilst the National Armed Forces have taken control of El Rodeo I, the violence is ongoing in El Rodeo II.
Following on from the Minister's statements a number of online media sites have falsely accused Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes of orchestrating the violence in order to create chaos in the prisons and destabalise the Government. Front Line is particularly concerned by reports that one online blog, which has since been disabled, published personal information about the human rights defender including his contact details and home address.
Front Line is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes and other human rights defenders working to promote and protect human rights in Venezuela, in particular prisoners' rights, and believes that public statements accusing Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes of instigating prison riots may place him at risk of persecution or further campaigns of intimidation and harassment.
Human rights defender, Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes, has been targeted in a number of statements made by public officials, including the President, and accused of instigating violent incidents within the prison system in Venezuela.
On 6 November 2010 the Nueva Prensa de Guyana newspaper reported on a campaign that had been launched on the previous day by the Ombudsman Ms Gabriela Ramírez. During the press conference for this launch the Ombudsman made reference to the dual conduct of non-governmental organisations working in the area of prisoners' rights.
On the one hand she accused them of promoting internal conflicts and strikes within the prison system, and then on the other hand of using these incidents to make public complaints to bring before the international community. The OVP is one of the primary organisations in Venezuela working on human rights related to prisoners.
Furthermore on 5 October 2010 the Diario Nuevo País newspaper reported that following the results of the legislative elections of 26 September President Hugo Chavez gave orders to the Public Ministry and the courts of justice to continue with repressive policies to criminalise political dissent.
One of those persons named was Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes, who he accused of promoting dissent within the prisons and ultimately leading to the recent riots which reportedly resulted in 18 prisoners being killed and 47 injured in the Aragua "Tocoron" Prison in the city of Maracay in Aragua.
Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes is concerned that this constitutes an attempt to deflect blame from the Ministry of Justice and the Interior for the current crisis in the prison system and puts him at risk of reprisals for his legitimate human rights activities.
Front Line is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes and other human rights defenders working to promote and protect human rights in Venezuela, in particular prisoners' rights, and believes that public statements accusing Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes of instigating prison riots may place him at risk of persecution or further campaigns of intimidation and harassment.
Human rights defender, Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes, lawyer and Director of the Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones – OVP (Venezuelan Prisons Observatory), is experiencing ongoing harassment and intimidation with recent visits by unknown individuals to his home residence.
On 27 May 2010, at approximately 07:30, Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes was approached by the Concierge of his residence building, as he was accompanying his young son to school, and informed that a few minutes previously seven men on motorcycles had arrived at the building and one of them had come forward and asked whether the 'Director of Prisons' lived in the building. The Concierge informed the men that she is not the regular concierge for the building but that no director of prisons lived there. The man then asked for confirmation that it was indeed the 'Real' building before making a phone call. As he made the phone call the other six men on motorcycles approached the building from where they had been stationed. The individuals did not identify themselves and all were dressed in black jackets, black gloves, black helmets and dark lenses.
It should be noted that the Director of Prisons does not live in the building, however Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes is the Director of the Prisons Observatory and the name of his building is 'Real'. The incident took place one week after the human rights defender accompanied a peaceful demonstration before the Supreme Tribunal in which families of people deprived of liberty called for an end to serious delays in judicial procedures and the violent situations faced by inmates in Venezuela's prisons.
On 28 May 2010 the human rights defender reported the incident to the Public Defender's Office requesting a formal investigation into this matter. Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes has been facing threats, harassment and intimidation since 2006 as a result of his work. On 24 November 2009 he was granted precautionary security measures by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.
Front Line believes that the intimidation of Dr Humberto Prado Sifontes is directly related to his work in defence of prisoners' rights in Venezuela. Front Line is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of the aforementioned human rights defender and and his family.
