Rapporteur Botero vowed she did not mean to damage the image of President Chávez (File photo)

Her comments at odds with the court measures recently taken in Venezuela against journalists and media owners have made Venezuelan authorities accuse her of protecting the interests of the "media dictatorship" and "taking active part against governments dissenting of the imperial power."

But the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States (IACHR), Colombian Catalina Botero, refused the charges and promised that her only interest is that "Venezuela and other governments in the region ensure and protect the right to freedom of expression of all their inhabitants, without discrimination."

In an interview via e-mail with El Universal, the lawyer voiced again her concern about the situation of practicing journalists and the potential effects on free dissemination of views as the election for parliament is less than three months away.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez said in an interview with BBC London that "in Venezuela, the press is one hundred times freer than in the United States." In the face of recent events (the detention of opposition ex-candidate Oswaldo Álvarez Paz for making some comments; the conviction of a journalist for reporting on corruption cases, and a bench warrant against the CEO of news TV channel Globovisión), do you agree?

In Venezuela, there is a particularly difficult situation in the field of freedom of expression that has been explained in the reports recently published and the communiqués released both by the Inter-American Commission and the Special Rapporteur.

The actions against Guillermo Zuloaga and Nelson Mezerhane, both of them stockholders of news TV channel Globovisión, are for many Venezuelans the government attempt at silencing the TV channel critic of President Chávez. What is your opinion?

We have requested information from the State. We are particularly concerned that these decisions have been made in the context of frequent oral attacks by senior government officials on the channel because of its editorial line, as well as attacks of pro-government individuals on the journalists of the media outlet.

The Inter-American Court on Human Rights have been stating for over a decade that free expression protects the free flow of all opinions and ideas, no matter that they are shocking or disturbing for public servants or a portion of the society. These are precisely the requirements of a pluralist, democratic society.

Venezuelan Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) has accused you of being a US agent and he is certain that your presentation at a Commission of the US Congress is a glaring sample. What is your reply?

If the legislature of any State in the region invites me to comment on our annual report, I will be pleased to accept such invitation. That is one of the Rapporteur's tasks.

Are you particularly interested in the Venezuelan case? Are you an enemy of President Chávez?

The only interest of the Special Rapporteur is that the government of Venezuela and other governments in the region ensure and protect the right to freedom of expression of all their inhabitants, without discrimination.

Translated by Conchita Delgado

Fuente: ElUniversal.com