Global Exchange
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 24, 2005
12:32 AM
|
CONTACT: Global Exchange
Deborah
James, 415-255-7296,
deborah@globalexchange.org
|
| |
Global Exchange Calls for Republican Leadership to Repudiate Pat Robertson
|
| |
WASHINGTON - August 24 - Call for Assasination of Democratically Electied Leader of Venezuela is Immoral, Illegal, and must be Investigated
Global Exchange strongly condemns
the call of extremist right-wing televangelist and Bush supporter Pat Robertson
for the assassination of democratically elected President Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela. Global Exchange calls on Pat Robertson to immediately retract his
outrageous statement. Pat Robertson, a candidate for the GOP´s Presidential
nomination in 1992, along with the millions of supporters of his 700 Club, are a
key constituency of the Republican Party.
Global Exchange, an
international human rights organization, also calls on President Bush, Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Speaker of the
House Dennis Hastert, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to condemn in the
strongest terms possible these immoral statements of a leader of their political
base, which make a mockery of Christianity and give lie to the Republican claims
that they stand for the right to life. State Department spokesperson Sean
McCormack today merely referred to Robertson’s statement as “inappropriate”.
“Calling for terrorist homicide against a democratically elected president is
not “inappropriate”; it is illegal, immoral, must be condemned in the strongest
language possible, and must be investigated for potential violations of federal
and international law,” said Deborah James, Global Economy Director of Global
Exchange.
Pat Robertson should be investigated and potentially
prosecuted for calling for the murder of a democratically-elected head of state.
Under Title 18 of US Code Section 1116, “whoever kills or attempts to kill a
foreign official, official guest, or internationally protected person shall be
punished as provided under sections 1111, 1112, and 1113 of this title.” Section
878 of the same title makes it a crime to “knowingly and willingly
threaten” to commit the above crime. (italics added) It is incumbent upon
the executive to investigate, and potentially prosecute, this wrongdoing by Pat
Robertson to the fullest extent of the law.
The US government has
been working to create a climate hostile to the democratically-elected
government of Venezuela. It is unfortunate that Pat Robertson’s statements are
consistent with the actions of the Bush administration. The Bush administration
supported the 2002 coup against President Chávez, and has continued to fund coup
leaders in their efforts to remove President Chávez from office, even after the
coup. Recently, the US has stepped up efforts to isolate Venezuela in the
region. In August 2004, President Chávez won a referendum on his
presidency by 59%, results which were certified by the OAS and Carter Center,
and his popularity currently stands at over 70%. Yet earlier this week,
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld continued the Bush administration’s rhetorical
assault against President Chávez, re-issuing old and unsupported claims
regarding Venezuela. The US government’s ongoing hostility towards President
Chávez have created the climate in which a Republican leader, a former candidate
for the Republican nomination for president feels comfortable in calling for the
United States to kill an elected head of state. If the US government wishes to
give a veneer of credibility to its claims that they are not planning to kill
President Chávez, it must forcefully condemn and initiate legal action against a
key Republican ally for openly calling for his assassination.
The US government’s hostility towards Venezuela stems more
from that country’s creation of an alternative economic vision for the
hemisphere than any unsubstantiated concerns about democracy. President Chávez
has embarked on a series of economic reforms, such as funneling billions of oil
industry profits into massive programs for health care, education, literacy, and
clean water, and promoting regional integration, which fly in the face of Bush
administration’s failed efforts to promote corporate globalization by
establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas. “The US government’s dislike for
Chávez’s vision of a national economy that delivers development rather than free
trade does not give the US government – or US government supporters - a license
to kill,” said Deborah James.
The US government has obligations
under international law to prevent and punish acts of terrorism against foreign
heads of state if those acts are conceived of or planned on US territory. The
1973 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes
Against Internationally Protected Persons makes it a crime to commit a
“murder, kidnapping, or other attack upon on the liberty of an internationally
protected person; .. [including] a “threat to commit any such attack.” An
internationally protected person means a head of state (or other specified
persons.)
The US is also a signatory to the 1971 Convention to
Prevent and Punish Acts of Terrorism Taking the Form of Crimes Against Persons
and Related Extortion that are of International Significance of the
Organization of the American States, Article 8a of which obliges “[t]he
contracting states undertake to cooperate among themselves by taking all the
measures that they may consider effective, under their own laws, and especially
those established in this convention, to prevent and punish acts of
terrorism, especially kidnaping [sic], murder, and other assaults against
the life or physical integrity of those persons to whom the state has the duty
according to international law to give special protection, as well as extortion
in connection with those crimes.” (italics added.) This includes foreign heads
of state as internationally protected persons.
Global Exchange
also calls for the investigation of the Christian Broadcasting Network for the
potential illegality of using federally licensed airwaves to call for the
assassination of a democratically-elected head of state. In light of the
$550,000 fine against CBS for the accidental airing of a “wardrobe malfunction”,
it would be ironic in the extreme if the CBN were not to be similarly punished
for airing a call for terrorist homicide.
###
|
|
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
