WASHINGTON: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has "free rein" to intimidate and censor political opponents thanks to a growing concentration of unchecked power, Human Rights Watch warned Tuesday.
In a report, HRW said the human rights situation has grown "even more precarious" since its last major publication on the country in 2008.
"The accumulation of power in the executive, the removal of institutional safeguards and the erosion of human rights guarantees have given the Chavez government free rein to intimidate, censor and prosecute Venezuelans who criticize the president or thwart his political agenda," it said.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of HRW's Americas division, pointed to "legislation that is redefining institutions in order to provide government services that validate" Chavez's policies.
Vivanco said the most egregious case is the Supreme Court, which "is not only composed of pro-Chavez loyalists but also issues sentences that show complete bias."
He warned that the moves create "enormous challenges and obstacles" to the opposition as Henrique Capriles seeks to thwart Chavez's bid for a third term in an October 7 presidential election.
And he noted that HRW's report could not be presented in Venezuela out of fears a visit there would "increase harassment" against local rights groups.
The Venezuelan government routinely rejects HRW reports. Vivanco was expelled from Venezuela in 2008 after presenting a report critical of the government that accused Chavez of meddling in internal affairs.
HRW cited the closure of Radio Caracas Television, hefty fines against private broadcaster Globovision and the arrest of Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, imprisoned since 2009 for granting parole to a businessman accused of graft.
The latest report also denounced the imprisonment of opposition leader Oswaldo Alvarez Paz on charges of spreading false information after he characterized the government's response to drug trafficking as weak.
"These high-profile cases... have had an impact not only on the individuals and groups directly involved, but also on many other Venezuelans who themselves have not been targeted," the report said.
It said the Chavez government has "undermined freedom of expression through a variety of laws and policies aimed at reshaping the content of and control over the media."
Chavez -- a staunch US critic and the best known face of the activist left in Latin America -- has a more than 15-point lead on his main rival ahead of the October presidential vote, according to the latest survey from pollster Datanalisis, released Monday.
Leftist-populist Chavez, 57, who has been in power since 1999, would get 46.1 percent of votes, according to a poll conducted from June 14-23, with a sample of 1,300 voters. His opponent, Henrique Capriles, a center-leftist, would get 30.8 percent, it found.
Chavez's health status remains something of a wild card. He assured the media last week that a June 2011 diagnosis declared him cancer-free, after two operations and post-cancer treatment. He has never released precise details on his illness but underwent surgery and radiation treatments in key ally Cuba.
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