Decree No. 4039 issued on April 17 by the Lara State Government on the “… persistence of the exceptional and extraordinary circumstances motivating the declaration of State of Alarm […] due to the public calamity that implies the worldwide epidemic of Coronavirus disease caused by the vector COVID-19”, establishes that the executive authority of the state of Lara requires “… to continue executing measures to protect and guarantee the rights to life, health, food, and security ”. Therefore, it prohibits the transit of people and vehicles from 2:00 pm to 7:00 am the next day, establishing a set of sanctions for those who do not comply, ranging from arrests and informative talks to pecuniary penalties of different amounts.

The social organizations and human rights defenders of the state of Lara entity subscribing to this public declaration, pronounce before this decree in the following terms:

1) Decree No. 4039, issued to protect and guarantee the rights to life, health, and food, does not establish any measure related to the improvement of coverage and quality of basic drinking water services, gas and fuel supply, and solid waste collection. On the contrary, severe restrictions on access to these services are one of the fundamental reasons why the population is forced to travel outside their homes for hours to stock up. Similarly, low income and suspension of wages force large segments of the population to eke out a living to support their families through informal jobs. The decree is completely unaware of these realities. Rather than offering answers to the needs affecting the quality of life of our population, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the conditions of social quarantine, it focuses exclusively on the prohibition of movement.

2) The “Essential Guidelines for the Human Rights Perspective in Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic” formulated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), states that “… our efforts to combat the virus will not pay off unless we apply a holistic approach, which means that we must carefully protect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged sectors of society, both medically and economically. ” Therefore, a decree that exclusively aims to restrict the mobility of the population for almost 70% of the day will not meet its objectives without offering alternatives to vulnerable populations, people with disabilities, the elderly, malnourished children, people deprived of freedom, homeless people, and people lacking basic services, who will not be able to comply with the provisions.

3) The government decree focuses exclusively on the confinement of the population and on the disciplinary and control role of the security apparatus, some of which have shown low standards of respect for human rights, and some of its members have been publicly accused of irregularly exercising their roles in controlling fuel distribution. In this sense, Resolution 1/20 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on “The Pandemic and Human Rights in the Americas” states that “… measures that result in restrictions of rights or guarantees must comply with the pro homine principles of proportionality and temporality, seek strict compliance with public health objectives and comprehensive protection … and center on the full respect for human rights. ” It is necessary to avoid that the decree issued by the regional Government becomes a mechanism of persecution, harassment, and repression of the population, allowing for the disproportionate exercise of the public force to the detriment of the population, creating a state of widespread fear and violations to the physical or psychological integrity of the population.

4) Finally, we want to express that our society has a multiple and diverse variety of social, organizational, and humanitarian resources that could contribute effectively and in solidarity to the creation and / or expansion of social networks of significant scope to protect vulnerable groups and channel community demands and responses that contribute to the protection of the health and life of the population. After mobilizing and publicly calling for it, kidney patients organizations, members of the Lara state Human Rights Network, proved able to adequately guide the state response to create public transport routes to take the patients to the care centers and keeping an adequate social control of their operation.

The social and human rights organizations that subscribe to this declaration, committed from different social spheres to face the negative effects of the pandemic on our population through various humanitarian and solidarity mechanisms, demand comprehensive responses – not exclusively coercive and punitive ones- that enable the development of initiatives, capacities and resolutions that contribute to alleviating the pain, limitations, and harsh conditions of isolation that people in Lara are currently suffering.

Under these considerations, the subscribers to this declaration demand that the authorities:

1) Explicitly define the duration of the decree;

2) Publish by all means within its reach the criteria and procedures that will be established by the Comprehensive Defense Operational Zone (ZODI) for granting exceptional permits (Paragraph one);

3) Inform about the location, appointed authority, and general conditions of the facilities belonging to the “Stay at Home Plan”(article 11) set across the state to hold those not complying with the decree.

4) Eliminate the provision in the “Stay at Home Plan” for indefinite detention of people until the fines are paid (article 11).

5) Suppress pecuniary penalties (Article 11).

6) Exempt journalists, workers of the pharmaceutical sector, and members of human rights organizations providing direct services to the population from the transit ban (Article).

7) Guarantee the continuous supply of water, electricity, and solid waste collection so that the population can strictly comply with hygiene measures.

8) Guarantee the regularization of the domestic gas service and communication services. Being confined and uncommunicated also forces unnecessary outings.

Signatories:

AC La Movida Positiva
AC Las Mercedes
AC Los Naguaritos
Cátedra DDHH UCLA
CITEL-PNC
Comisión de DDHH de la Federación del Colegio de Abogados de Venezuela del estado Lara
Comité de DDHH para la Defensa de Pensionados y Jubilados
Fundación Iribarren Lucha
Fundación Santa Bernardita. Funsaber
Médicos Unidos de Venezuela – Lara
Movicoim
Movimiento de Educadores “Simon Rodríguez”
Movimiento Vinotinto
Mujeres de Frente Lara
Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones
Operación Libertad Internacional
Organización StopVIH
Parroquia Jesús de Nazareth de La CarucieñaPrograma Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA)PROMEDEHUM AC
Protesta Creativa Bqto
Red de Activistas Ciudadanos por los Derechos Humanos (Redac)
RedApoyaT
SOS PACIENTES RENALES
Transparencia Venezuela
Universitas Fundación
Vicaría de DDHH de la Arquidiócesis de Barquisimeto
Voluntad Popular
Elio Gimenez
Jacobo Mármol. Junta Directiva del Colegio de Abogados del estado Lara.
Juan Alonso Molina
Julio César García. Paramédico.
Karlobell Paradas
Liz Gascón. Periodista.
Mario Aguilar
Roberto Casanova
Wilfredo Páez Gallardo Presidente Fundación Emprendedores Solidarios.
Yonaide Sánchez
Zuly Alvarez. Abogada y defensora de DD. HH.