Nominee for UN Rights Chief Has Problematic Record
Nominee for UN Rights Chief Has Problematic Record On Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua; Watchdog Expresses 'Serious Concerns'
GENEVA, August 8, 2018
- In reaction to the news of Michelle Bachelet's
nomination as the next UN human rights chief, the
non-governmental human rights organization UN Watch said it
had "serious concerns" over her spotty record on supporting
human rights in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and said it
hoped to meet the former Chilean president to obtain
clarifications.
"There's no question that the former Chilean president is a highly educated and intelligent politician, who also brings important negotiating skills," said Hillel C. Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
"But she has a controversial record when it comes to her support for the human rights abusing governments who rule Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and we need to know how she plans to address these urgent situations before her nomination is voted upon."
Neuer cited the following Bachelet actions
that he said raise "troubling questions":
•
2018 Cuba Visit: Bachelet's visit to Cuba
earlier this year, one of her last trips before leaving
office, was strongly criticized by members of her
own party and others, especially human rights activists. She
met with the last military dictator of the Americas, Gen.
Raúl Castro, without seeing any member of Cuba’s peaceful
opposition.
Opposition leader Rosa María Payá asked
Bachelet to meet with human rights dissidents during her
trip to the island, but that request was completely ignored.
“She is rewarding those responsible for the longest
dictatorship in the region,” said Payá.
"Her closeness to Havana
is marked by an ideological nostalgia that clouds her view
and her ability to recognize the lack of rights that mark
the lives of Cubans," said prominent Cuban human rights
blogger Yoani Sanchez.
"In each of her two terms," wrote Sanchez, "Bachelet avoided showing
sympathy for the cause of Cuban dissidents and has declined
any contact with the countless activists from the island who
have visited her country in recent years. From her mouth,
there has never been any condemnation of the political
repression systematically carried out by Raúl Castro, even
when the victims are women."
• Praised Cuban
Dictator: On Fidel Castro’s death, she called him “a leader for dignity and
social justice in Cuba and Latin America,” a statement
that was sharply criticized by Chilean political
leaders across the spectrum, who said it showed
insensitivity to victims of Cuban state
repression.
• Praised Hugo Chavez: Bachelet eulogized Chavez — whose legacy in Venezuela is mass hunger, jailed opposition leaders and a failed state — for “his most profound love for his people and the challenges of our region to eradicate poverty and generate a better life for everyone and his profound love for Latin America.”
• Refusal to Condemn
Maduro, Slammed by HRW: Bachelet was called out by Human Rights Watch's Latin
America chief in July 2017 for her "serious error" of
"failing to characterize the Nicolás Maduro regime as a
dictatorship, or at least as a regime that broke the
constitutional order," as affirmed by 20 countries in the
OAS. "The most serious thing," said José Miguel Vivanco,
"is that the president [Bachelet] continues to insist that
the problem of Venezuela is the lack of dialogue, suggesting
that there is a kind of shared
responsibility."
• Quiet on Nicaragua Killings:
Over the past months of the Ortega regime's killing
of hundreds of protesters, Bachelet's twitter account shows
not a single tweet mentioning Nicaragua
or its
victims.