76. Also referring to the website, in a television program, President Hugo Chávez Frías said "I’ve been informed that Congressman Luis Tascón has a website. On his website, well, the list of all these things, especially the ID numbers of those who supposedly signed, I call on the Venezuelan people to check, and let the faces come out! There it is www.luistascon.com. Go in there"34. 5. Complaints of dismissal and threats of dismissal to employees who signed the requests for a presidential referendum 77. According to publicly available information, after the publication of the Tascón list, various media reported layoffs of public workers in retaliation for their signature on the presidential recall referendum began35. Some of the layoffs were preceded by statements by public officials accusing the signatories of treason. 78. In this regard, on March 20, 2004, Roger Capella, then Minister of Health and Social Development stated that "a traitor cannot be in a position of trust and this State has a policy and correspondence with the government it has, where there’s no room for traitors. Those who have signed are dumped"36. The same official said that "those who signed against President Chávez" will be dismissed "because it is an act of terrorism"37. 79. On March 29, 2004 the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated to the media that: "I consider logical that an official with a position of trust that has signed against Hugo Chávez, makes his position available; otherwise they will be transferred to other duties within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They will not be dismissed, but they cannot be a close collaborator, because they don’t believe in the policy set out by the President”38. 80. Also, the then president of Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA) warned that "it would be no surprise if the workers who signed the petition to call [for the referendum] were dismissed from their jobs"39. According to a report by Human Rights Watch "some employees of PDVSA reported later to the press that they had been dismissed, and when they asked why, they were told it was because they had signed the referendum petition”40. 81. The same report, as well as a report prepared by a Venezuelan organization, documented a number of cases of alleged layoffs motivated by the participation of public employees in the recall referendum petition41. Among them it was highlighted the case of 80 public employees of the Fund of Deposit Guarantee and Banking Protection, allegedly dismissed for being included in "a list, partly based on the Tascón list, 34 Active Citizenship, Documentary "The List, a people https://ciudadaniaactivavzla.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/documental-la-lista-tascon/. under suspicion" available at: 35 See Annex 3. Compiling press articles on allegations of retaliation for the signing of the petition for a presidential recall referendum, Annex M of Annex IV of the complaint filed before the IACHR on March 7, 2006. 36 El Universal, To sign against Chávez http://www.eluniversal.com/2004/03/21/pol_art_21108A. is an act of terrorism, March 21, 2004, available at: 37 El Universal, To sign against Chávez http://www.eluniversal.com/2004/03/21/pol_art_21108A. is an act of terrorism, March 21, 2004, available at: 38 IACHR, Report No. 59/13, Petition 212-06. Admissibility. Rocío San Miguel Sosa et al. Venezuela. July 16, 2013, para 16. Human rights watch, A decade of Chávez Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela, p.20. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/venezuela0908spweb_0.pdf. 39 40 Human rights watch, A decade of Chávez Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela, p.20. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/venezuela0908spweb_0.pdf. 41 Human rights watch, Una década de Chávez, Intolerancia política y oportunidades perdidas para el progreso de los derechos humanos en Venezuela, Pág.20. Disponible en: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/venezuela0908spweb_0.pdf; Asociación Civil Súmate, Apartheid del Siglo XXI. La informática al servicio de la discriminación política en Venezuela, capítulo 3. Disponible en: http://sumate.org/documentos/ApartheidSigloXXI/Apartheid%20del%20Siglo%20XXI%20Capitulo3.pdf. 13