Sean Penn's Twisted Relationship With Hugo Chavez

Sean Penn, who has some kind of twisted relationship with Hugo Chavez, recently defended the Venezuelan president. In an article in the Guardian, Penn, “defended Hugo Chavez as a model democrat and said those who call him a dictator should be jailed.”

He directed his ire directly at journalists who accuse Chavez of being a socialist and a dictator. He said:

“Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it. And this is mainstream media. There should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.”

According to the Washington Post, the murder rate in Venezuela has quadrupled in the past 11 years under the leadership of Hugo Chavez. The article breaks it down to two murders every hour.

Perhaps Mr. Penn would like to educate himself on the recent findings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This 319-page report was referenced in an editorial in the Washington Post dated March 1, 2010 titled, “Report details violence and lost freedoms in Venezuela.”

According to the editorial “bogus criminal charges” are used to “silence human rights groups.” “… the commission, made up of seven jurists and rights activists from Antigua, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States, offers a level of detail and a stance of impartiality that ought to discredit those defenders of Mr. Chavez who paint his critics as Yanqui imperialists or coup-plotters.”

Killing journalists, protesters, union leaders, and torture are but a few atrocities cited in the report. The following is but one paragraph from the Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, report titled, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN VENEZUELA dated 30 December 2009.

Executive Summary, Page 1 Paragraph 4. The full report can be read here.

In this report, the Commission identifies issues that restrict full enjoyment of the human rights enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights. Among other issues, the IACHR analyzes a series of conditions that indicate the absence of due separation and independence between the branches of government in Venezuela. The Commission also finds that in Venezuela, not all persons are ensured full enjoyment of their rights irrespective of the positions they hold vis-à-vis the government’s policies. The Commission also finds that the State’s punitive power is being used to intimidate or punish people on account of their political opinions. The Commission’s report establishers that Venezuela lacks the conditions necessary for human rights defenders and journalists to carry out their work freely. The IACHR also detects the existence of a patter of impunity in cases of violence, which particularly affects media works, human rights defenders, trade unionists, participants in public demonstrations, people held in custody, Campesinos (small-scale and subsistence farmers), indigenous peoples, and women.

So if Mr. Penn has any friends out there who read Big Hollywood perhaps they could pass this on to him. Of course Penn will probably shrug off the report, as “that’s bogus man.”

It must be refreshing to Mr. Penn to have such a great friend as Mr. Chavez.

The same article in the Guardian states:

Chavez thanked Penn for his support in what he said was a daily battle for public opinion.

“I was reading the declarations from our friend Sean Penn, the famous American actor,” he told a televised rally in Caracas. “Penn defended what he considers to be the truth.”

The Hollywood star was an ally in the effort to counter a campaign to “confuse” Venezuelans, said the president, who has been in power for 11 years. “From here I thank you very much.”

Mr. Penn thinks himself a patriot but I think he has gotten his loyalties confused he is a patriot of Venezuela not America.