Venezuela Funding
AP-APTN-0930: Venezuela Funding
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
STORY:Venezuela Funding- REPLAY +4:3 Reax to law that bans NGOs from accepting foreign money
LENGTH: 02:39
FIRST RUN: 0030
RESTRICTIONS: AP Clients Only
TYPE: Spanish/Natsound
SOURCE: AP TELEVISION/VTV
STORY NUMBER: 674150
DATELINE: Caracas, Recent/File
LENGTH: 02:39
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
GOVERNMENT TV - AP CLIENTS ONLY
SHOTLIST:
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 28 January 2011
16:9
1. Pan right wide view of Caracas
2. Mid buildings of Caracas
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 25 January 2011
16:9
3. Wide of non-governmental organisation (NGO) NGO workers speaking
4. Pull focus from man speaking to poster reading (Spanish) "Freedom of thoughts"
5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alonso Dominguez, executive director of "Liderazgo y Vision" NGO:
"What (the government) is trying to do, and actually it has done it, is to put the Sword of Damocles over them (the NGOs) with 'The Law for the Defence of Sovereignty' because what the organisations now are asking themselves "Should I receive the funds or not? What should I do?" because the law is arbitrary and ambiguous."
6. Close of NGO poster showing a zip on the lips
7. Mid pictures in the wall and NGO worker behind
GOVERNMENT TV - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 25 November 2010
4:3
8. Wide Chavez speaking ++SHOT CHANGES IN SOUNDBITE++
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president:
"How is it possible? Are we to allow political parties, NGOs, figures of the counter-revolution, to continue being financed with millions and millions of dollars from the Yankee empire, using the liberty (in the country) to violate our constitution trying to destabilise the country? I beg you (to the lawmakers) to make a severe law to avoid it."
AP TELEVISION- AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 25 January 2011
16:9
10. Tilt up banner showing names of NGO and logos
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 17 January 2011
16:9
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Marino Alvarado, PROVEA NGO representative:
"The law is a death decree for civil society's organisations (NGOs) working with international funds, and not just against organisations like PROVEA depending 99 per cent of international cooperation, but also for organisations depending less (than PROVEA) on international cooperation but (who) are also affected in the national cooperation."
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, December 2010
16:9
12. Tilt up National Assembly building
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 18 December 2011
16:9
13. Wide and mid Roy Daza, Socialist Party lawmaker in the Latin-American congress, speaking
14. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Roy Daza, pro-Chavez lawmaker in the Latin-American congress:
"We wanted to do a very specific law to avoid the money and resources coming from foreign countries could interfere in the internal affairs of our country."
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Caracas, 25 January 2011
16:9
15. Mid and close NGO members, working in their office
STORYLINE:
Since 1995, 1734 cases of violations of private-property rights have been attributed to President Hugo Chavez's government, according to an advocacy group that promotes economic and personal freedoms in the South American nation.
Now that group is one of many that could be affected by a new law that bans certain vaguely defined organisations from accepting foreign money.
The law is one of multiple efforts during Chavez's 12 years in power that have given him new tools to clamp down on critics.
Alonso Dominguez, executive director of Liderazgo y Vision NGO, is calling the law "arbitrary and ambiguous."
He said his NGO relies largely on Venezuelan donors, but has also used foreign funding to run courses in leadership training and community policing.
Some of it has come from the US-funded National Endowment for Democracy and the US Agency for International Development.
The "Law for the Defence of Political Sovereignty and National Self-determination" empowers the government to fine a group double the sum it receives from abroad, bar offenders from running for office, and impose similar penalties for inviting foreigners who publicly give "opinions that offend state institutions."
The law is sweeping but unclear about which specific kinds of organisations are affected. It speaks of groups promoting "political rights" and individuals engaging in "political activities" without defining how foreign funding for these might incur prosecution.
The US State Department has condemned the law, and Dominguez and the leaders of six other Venezuelan organisations interviewed by The Associated Press said they will go on soliciting foreign funding and fight any penalties in court.
"Our challenge is how not to disappear," said Marino Alvarado, who heads Provea, a human rights group that relies almost exclusively on overseas funds, including donations from the European Union and US--based NGOs but not the US government.
Some activists are wondering how donors will respond to the law, and whether any will hold back in providing money.
Pro-Chavez politician Roy Daza said human rights groups will not be affected, and that the restrictions target "organisations that attack Venezuelan institutions."
Daza cited Sumate, a group that strongly criticises the electoral system and helped organise a failed 2004 recall vote against Chavez.
Sumate says it has accepted funding from the National Endowment for Democracy in the past but has received no foreign funds in the past two years.
"What this law attempts to do is strangle any possible source of financing," said Ricardo Estevez, a Sumate leader.
The South Africa-based group CIVICUS, which supports citizen participation globally, says the Venezuelan law sets a dangerous precedent in Latin America.
Already, US aid programmes have been barred in two regions of Bolivia, and in Ecuador, NGOs warn that new regulations being considered would increase government controls affecting their organisations.
Chavez has long been suspicious of US aid funding, having survived a brief 2002 coup that he accused Washington of actively supporting.
He has since called some critical activists coup plotters, conspirators and US pawns.
Chavez maintains that everything he has done has been in furtherance of a social revolution to close an age-old gulf between rich and poor. He insists Venezuela has free speech and points out that his opponents can air their views on TV.
The country still has critical newspapers like El Nacional, which headlined the property rights figures, as well as radio stations and the anti-Chavez TV channel Globovision.
Venezuelans have voted regularly ever since Chavez was first elected in 1998, and he is up for re-election next year.
Critics say Chavez's method consists of carefully calculated actions to chill dissent, pressure opposition news media and sideline opponents.
Several opposition politicians have fled the country due to criminal charges that they say were trumped up, and the anti-Chavez TV channel RCTV was forced off the air.
Another Chavez opponent, Alejandro Pena Esclusa, is jailed on charges of hiding explosives in his home - accusations he says are bogus and politically motivated.
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APTN
APEX 02-02-11 0527EST