reports of political discrimination against Chávez supporters in lower levels of public administration, state and municipal governments, and the private sector.34 In most cases, it was not possible to prove political discrimination—with rare exceptions, citizens were given no grounds at all for the actions taken—yet many were told informally that they were losing their jobs, contracts, or services for having signed the referendum petition. For example, in one case reported to Human Rights Watch, a 98-year-old woman was denied medicines that she had long received from a state development agency because, as her family was told by the program secretary, she had signed the referendum petition.35 Human Rights Watch documented several representative cases, detailed below, in which government officials employed the Tascón list or Maisanta program to target individuals for discriminatory actions.
Fund for the Guarantee of Deposits and Banking Protection Among the cases of alleged politically motivated firings, one of the most prominent was the dismissal of more than 80 civil servants from a government banking agency, the Fund for the Guarantee of Deposits and Banking Protection (Fondo de Garantías de Depósitos y Protección Bancaria, FOGADE), in 2004.36 All the fired employees reportedly had been named as members of the political opposition on a list, based in part on the Tascón list, circulated within the agency.37 While the workers were fired without explanation, the president of the agency openly stated that the employees were being dismissed to make way for those “that adhered to the government project.”38
34
For example, the Ombudsman (Defensoría del Pueblo) received 57 allegations of political discrimination in 2004 of which 16 cases were known to be from the private sector and 15 from the public sector. Ibid.
35
Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Pedro Elias Carrasco, nephew of Juana Bautista, Caracas, January 18, 2008.
36
FOGADE is an institute attached to the Ministry of Finance which, among other functions, guarantees bank deposits held by the public. FOGADE, www.fogade.gov.ve/ (accessed June 27, 2008). Several press reports emerged about the firings: Miguel Angel Santos, “FOGADE: Crónica de un colapso anunciado,” El Universal, June 21, 2004; Oscar Medina, “Purga Laboral,” El Universal, August 4, 2004. 37
Medina, “Purga Laboral,” El Universal.
“Despedidos ilegales impactan las cuentas de FOGADE,” El Universal, February 23, 2008, http://www.eluniversal.com/2008/02/23/eco_art_despidos-ilegales-im_726634.shtml (accessed May 26, 2008). 38
21
Human Rights Watch September 2008