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professor at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and the Universidad
Central de Venezuela. The request filed with the Commission came
from the Human Rights Center (Centro de Derechos Humanos) of the
Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, the Venezuelan Programme for
Human Rights Education-Action (Programa Venezolano de EducaciónAcción en Derechos Humanos - PROVEA), the Vicariate of Human
Rights of the Archdiocese of Caracas, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the
Community Learning Centers (Centros Comunitarios de Aprendizaje CECODAP), the Peace and Justice Support Network, assisted by Mr.
Héctor Faúndez Ledesma;
c)
on Sunday, June 6, 2003, at 3:30 p.m., Mr. Carlos Nieto Palma was
visited by three civilian intelligence agents (DISIP) from the Ministry of
the Interior and Justice, who informed him that while they had the
order to make a household visit, they did not have a court order to
search his home. They went on to say, however, that as members of
the government’s civilian intelligence agency (DISIP) they wanted to
speak with him.
Only one of the agents showed Mr. Nieto his
credentials and identified himself as “Chief Rodríguez.” The police were
at the door to his home for more than ten minutes. As they insisted
on speaking with him inside, Mr. Nieto Palma relented and allowed
them into his living room;
d)
the representatives stated that the police made it plain that that they
were aware of the activities of Mr. Carlos Nieto Palma and of his
family, and knew “intimate details of his private life.” Mr. Nieto Palma
was questioned about his work as a human rights defender, the work
he does in Venezuelan prisons, and whether he was acquainted with
the political prisoners from Plaza Altamira, whether he had defended
them and why. They also asked him to explain why he was receiving
money from a foreign government to finance his nongovernmental
organization “Una Ventana a la Libertad.” Throughout the questioning,
Mr. Nieto Palma felt intimidated by the police agents’ repeated
references to his nine-month-old nephew John Carmelo Laicono Nieto,
“how pretty he was in the photographs, the climate of insecurity in
Caracas, and the possibility that something untoward might happen to
him;”
e)
at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 18, 2004, Mr. Carlos Nieto Palma
received a summons to appear “immediately” at the Office of
Prosecutor 27 for the Caracas Metropolitan Area. That same day, at
3:30 p.m., Mr. Nieto Palma appeared at the Prosecutor’s Office, in the
company of attorneys Carlos Simón Bello and Alejandro Rodríguez.
Prosecutor Antonio Rodríguez Landaeta was the person who spoke
with him, and told him that he had been summoned as a witness, but
did not indicate the case in question. The questioning to which he was
subjected “seemed to suggest that Mr. Nieto Palma was accused of
committing some crime.” The line of questioning centered around the
funding of the nongovernmental organization “Una Ventana a la
Libertad” and whether he was the attorney for the “Altamira rock
throwers” [“los tira piedra de Altamira”], an expression the prosecutor
used in reference to a number of leaders of the opposition of President
Hugo Chávez Frías’ administration. These were people that Mr. Nieto
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