OUTSTANDING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN VENEZUELA: ALFREDO ROMERO

Romero (48), who has been a defender for nearly half his life, says that in Venezuela the persecution and harassment by some authorities are the worst obstacles to exercise their work.

Alfredo Romero is a prominent lawyer and human rights defender in Venezuela, and currently heads the board of the civil organizations Venezuelan Criminal Forum. He recognizes, remorseless, he learned about the world of human rights by chance. However, his work and perseverance for almost two uninterrupted decades have received recognitions as important as the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award 2017, prestigious when it comes to defending fundamental rights.

This award means the recognition of the victims of repression who today are unfairly behind bars and in exile or who have lost a loved one. "This award reinforces the work we are doing, because it reaffirms it is positive and it guarantees the world is seeing what happens to us and, in addition, it is cares".

His first approach to human rights began with the protests of April 2002 when he himself was external rapporteur of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. That year, he decided to participate in a demonstration that ended with fateful murders of many protesters on Avenida Baralt in Caracas. "When the demonstration reached that point, I saw a person walking beside me get shot in the head, shocking me."

After these events, the parents of a young man killed in the same demonstration come to Romero seeking advice. Then, he undertakes the process of denouncing what happened to the competent entities and realizes the NGOs of that time did not have the legal capacity to bring the cases to court from beginning to end, they only offered initial support to the victims.

At that time, he managed to represent eight cases of murder and more than 30 cases of people wounded by gunshot during demonstrations. This experience led him to provide legal assistance to many more victims of human rights violations. To date, he considers that he has directly and indirectly assisted more than 10,000 people.

Since 2002, he has been involved in the formal work of civil society organizations and founds VIVE, Víctimas Venezolanas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos (Venezuelan Victims of Human Rights Violations in English), later merged with the Venezuelan Criminal Forum, a non-governmental non-profit organization, of which he has been Executive Director since 2007.

"Within Criminal Forum I discovered who were the activists across the country that did the same I did and we started to build a support platform that today has 200 lawyers and more than 3,700 Venezuelan activists, some of them based abroad".

Alfredo Romero

Defender persecuted

One of the worst moments he feared for his life was in 2014, when armed individuals on a SUV hindered his transit around midnight. "When I saw the SUV had rushed into my vehicle and one of the subjects on board had pointed a gun at me, I speeded up so fast, in order to avoid them, I almost crashed into a wall," Romero said.

Neither the subjects, nor the SUV, were identified with symbols of state security bodies, but Romero has serious suspicions that this ambush was planned by a high-level government official until this day, mainly because that night he had just dropped Marcelo Crovato at his home, a human rights defender illegally imprisoned in the prison Yare III – to date, he has served house arrest for more than three years without trial or sentence.

Romero, who at his 48 years old has been a defender for near half his life, says that in Venezuela the persecution and harassment by some authorities of the national government have been the worst obstacles to carry out his work. "SUVs of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) constantly follow me, especially when I go to inland cities of the country. They do not do it discreetly and I know it is a way to intimidate and make me give up what I do."

Once weary of the constant persecution, he faced his followers. "Once, I was going to do a workshop in Anzoátegui state (eastern region) and I began to notice that, since I left Caracas, I had the same SUV behind the vehicle I was riding, so I decided to step on the side of the highway, get off the car and knock on the glass of the driver following me. After several unanswered blows, they lowered the glass and told me ‘Don’t worry, Alfredo, we are the SEBIN. You know we are doing our work with video and photography. We deeply admire you‘, mocked one of the security officials".

"In another activity in Barinas, I had to jump a wall to avoid them. That time, they arrived in motorcycles and SUVs and I did not know if they were going to detain me or not. In each toll of the country, they also place a person whose job is to check me and see if they can find something to incriminate me. Those are methods to delay and play with the fatigue and patience of the defenders".

The defender said he has suffered a very serious intimidation scheme for many years, from publishing photographs of each place he goes to or each activity he does, to humiliating accusations by people evidently linked to the Venezuelan government. "On repeated occasions, they speak against me and what I do, especially in a program broadcasted on an open signal through the State channel"

On 17 March 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) decided to request the adoption of precautionary measures in favor of Alfredo Romero and two more members of Venezuelan Criminal Forum given the risk they could suffer for their work as defenders. "From that date until today, the government has never contacted me to guarantee there will be no more violence or harassment for doing my work, nor has it declared to provide me with support, regarding to my personal security."

Romero, who is also a lawyer, specialized in public policies and economics, assures that the government does not care about ensuring the work human rights defenders are doing in the country due to the pressure that civil society organizations exert against the State's abuses. "We as NGOs are the ones who denounce violations and abuses, we are the ones who make estimates to provide figures - that the government does not offer - and inform the country how many human rights violations have been registered and in what circumstances they have been committed".

"Historically, and as it happens anywhere in the world, governments that violate human rights do not like people who defend rights."

Alfredo Romero

The challenge is to continue

Despite all the techniques used to intimidate and silence dissenting voices, the duty of the defenders, especially the Venezuelan ones, is to continue to denounce what is wrong and come up with alternatives so that conflicts can be solved and justice is imposed on those who intend to remain in power through the systematic violation of human rights.

Romero insisted that, despite the situation becoming bleak, we must know that we are not alone. The international community provides very valuable attention to everything that civil society denounces and works in consonance, so that repressive governments take up the ways that guarantee the respect of the rights of citizens.

He said satisfactorily that Venezuelan society is much more educated on human rights than in previous decades. He attributes this phenomenon to the tireless work of the Venezuelan defenders who, in spite of adversities, continue to do their work in a timely, disinterested manner and with inexhaustible commitment.

Despite the steps that have been taken to make massive the culture pro human rights, Romero insists that it is necessary to join new activists and volunteers who feel the need to build a better environment to the one already existing.

"Experience has shown me that more and more people want to participate; they want, within their means, to contribute with the defense of the rights of all."

Alfredo Romero

In this sense, he invited everyone who wants to join a cause to approach the organization of the civil society of choice to be trained and begin to understand the current issues that make up the agenda of rights. "From Criminal Forum we deliver workshops, conferences, assemblies, promote campaigns and certify more people to become defenders."

He concluded by recalling that the greatest reward for human rights defenders is the freedom of every person unfairly detained, the prevalence of truth in each case, the embrace of the victim or the family member who suffered some outrage and now feels he comforted by the work done

Besides defender

Before becoming a defender, he was part of the public and private administration. He holds a postgraduate degree from a North American University on Public Policies and a Master's degree from another in the United Kingdom on Banking Law.

Romero describes himself as homelike. He is married, father of two children and proudly says that he is a musician-composer, he even composed the anthem of the NGO he runs by himself. In addition, without considering himself a writer he has written several books and articles for prominent national media. In his literary work are: "Tales of death, live" and co-author of the book "Crimes against Humanity, a Venezuelan perspective."

Since he was 24 years old, he is a university professor. He has taught at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Universidad Central de Venezuela and delivered a seminar on political prisoners at Harvard University in the United States.

In addition, he spends time on physical activity and has participated so far in three marathons.

Among the Venezuelan defenders for whom he feels the most admiration is Marino Alvarado. "I feel admiration for many defenders, but in the Venezuelan case it seems to me that Marino is a faithful person to his human rights work."

To learn more about Alfredo Romero and his activities, follow him on Twitter: @AlfredoRomero