Venezuela is intimidating and harassing human rights defenders, and making unsubstantiated allegations that they are seeking to undermine Venezuelan democracy. The authorities’ allegations concern the groups’ legitimate functions of documenting abuses and representing victims before international human rights bodies. As mentioned in the South American newsletter, last month marked the first anniversary of the outbreak of anti-government protests in Venezuela and their brutal suppression by the security forces. To mark the occasion, Amnesty issued a public statement, which you can find here https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR53/0015/2015/en/
Ar our meeting last week we wrote letters to the Venezuelan Authorities, bringing attention to this report and calling for them to take action. A sample letter is here, with other addresses available.
As well as the report, you find this press release gives a good summary of what is going on in Venezuela.