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In the lead up to last month’s elections in Venezuela, Human Rights Watch released a report in September stating that the presidency of Hugo Chavez has weakened democratic institutions and fostered political discrimination. After holding a press conference in Caracas to announce the conclusions of their 230 page examination, HRW staff members Jose Miguel Vivanco and Daniel Wilkinson were promptly expelled by the Venezuelan government. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro stated afterward that “any other foreigner… who attempts to come to Venezuela and use our democratic order, with the total freedom of expression, to assault our institutions in a rude manner… will receive the same reply.” Since that time, a letter has been drafted and signed by more than one-hundred Latin American experts calling HRW’s report into question. Sent last week to the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, the letter asserts that Vivanco’s assessment does not meet the minimal scholastic standards by making unsubstantiated claims based on unreliable sources. The letter has been signed by scholars based in the U.S. and around the world including Rudulfo Acuna, Antonia Darder, Noam Chomsky, and Gilberto Lopez y Rivas.

GUEST: Gregory Wilpert, is a sociologist, freelance journalist, and a former US Fulbright Scholar in Venezuela, author of “Changing Venezuela By Taking Power,” writes for www.VenezuelaAnalysis.com.