MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile: expulsion of human rights activists is “regrettable”

The expeditious expulsion by Venezuelan authorities of two members from the non government organization Human Rights Watch on Thursday night has not gone unnoticed and the Chilean government announced it will officially demand explanations from President Hugo Chavez administration.

A few hours after a press conference where the president of HRW Jose Miguel Vivanco and his deputy Daniel Wilkinson made public a report critical of President Chavez administration human rights track record, the two officials were driven from their hotel directly to the airport on a night flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil. "Expulsing a (Chilean) citizen, a man who has dedicated his life to human rights is for us regrettable. And the reaction of the Venezuelan government has been entirely disproportionate", said Chilean Deputy Foreign Affairs minister Alberto Van Klaveren. He added that the Chilean Foreign Office will request from Venezuelan authorities the corresponding explanations regarding the incident. "We are going to request the corresponding explanation through normal diplomatic channels for these cases", said Van Klaveren. Apparently the announcement was done by the Deputy Minister since Alejandro Foxley has been involved in a claim from Venezuelan authorities. During the recent UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) summit in Santiago de Chile to address the Bolivian situation, the overwhelming majority of leaders expressed support for President Evo Morales and democratic institutions and agreed to name a special monitoring-facilitating committee to ensure dialogue between the government and the opposition. However President Chavez went further and proposed the inclusion of a military support option for the embattled Morales administration which was not accepted by his counterparts and openly rejected by the Bolivian Army. When Foxley was asked by the international press to comment on the Chavez proposal he downplayed the situation and said that some leaders like "to be protagonists and seek the limelight". The Venezuelan government immediately protested and asked for an explanation, which Foxley said he would reply by letter.