Country Report

In a move widely considered to be political, Venezuela’s National Telecommunications Commission handed down a fine of $2 million dollars against Globovision, the only remaining independent television station critical of Hugo Chavez.

Freedom House mourns the loss of Laura Pollan, Cuban activist and founder of the group Ladies in White, who died on October 16 at the age of 63. Pollan made a lasting contribution to democracy and human rights in Cuba as one of the leading voices pressing for change.

Freedom House is gravely concerned by the ongoing harassment of Zimbabwean civil society leader and diamond activist Farai Maguwu, who was harshly interrogated by plain-clothes police at Harare International Airport upon re-entry into Zimbabwe on Monday, in clear defiance of a recent court decision ordering security services to desist from harassing him.

Freedom House joins Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in calling for the veto of the Ros-Lehtinen U.N. Reform Bill. If passed, the bill would threaten national security, foreign policy and efforts to monitor human rights situations worldwide.