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ePaper created 2015-11-10, 17:27:36 | version 1.33.00
REDACTED Page 54 of 190 “Recalls its deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Venezuela and condemns the use of violence against protesters; calls on the Venezuelan authorities to immediately release Antonio Ledezma, Leopoldo López, Daniel Ceballos and all peaceful protesters, students and opposition leaders arbitrarily detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression and their fundamental rights,(…) 3. Calls on the Venezuelan Government to cease the political persecution and repression of the democratic opposition and the violations of freedom of expression and of demonstration, and urges an end to media censorship; reminds the authorities that opposition voices are imperative for a democratic society (…)”200 In light of the above, there is clear information that the GoV has designed and consistently implemented a complex course of conduct targeted at the civilian population since February 2014 using various organs of the state in order to to prevent, restrict, monitor, punish dissent and cover up crimes to retain power by all means. b)Civilians as the primary target of the attack As soon as he became aware of the weakness in his popular support that Maduro announced, in his own words that he would be “defending them [the people] from themselves” in his bid to retain political control over the country. In May 2013, Maduro and members of his inner circle in high level government positions developed a policy of exploiting real or perceived grievances between different political ideologies, promoting the idea of a polarization between those aligned with him and the perceived dissidents which he considered to be threats to his government. Maduro himself, his inner circle and high level public officials started to loosely brand anyone who disagrees with the regime as ‘fascist’ to identify them as enemies of the state. Whether they are students protesting against the crime rate, citizens pacifically demanding changes to GoV policies, journalists reporting about incidents implicating the regime or opposition members exercising their civil rights, they were loosely branded as ‘fascists’ by the GoV and Maduro himself. Maduro himself uses the term fascist repeatedly whenever he refers to political protestors and anyone in the opposition for merely exercising their civil rights. More than a term used for categorization in the political discourse, Maduro used it as a political weapon201 of condemnation intended to brand perceived dissident and label them as enemies of the state making them criminals. 200 EP. (2015) Joint Motion for Resolution ((2015/2582)RSP). European Parliament. [Online] 11 March. Available from: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=P8-RC- 2015-0236&language=EN [Accessed 24 October, 2015] 201 BBC. (2009) What is a fascist? BBC. [Online] 20 October. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8316271.stm [Accessed 24 October, 2015]