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Published on 16 March 2016 by teleSUR.

MADURO

The rapporteur has been critical of the Venezuelan state without first requesting information from the government.

Venezuela spoke out against the rapporteur for freedom of expression Edison Lanza of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Wednesday.

Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.S. Bernardo Alvarez told the Organization of American States that he “categorically rejects” the official for his “loss of independence and lack of impartiality in regard to the Venezuelan state.”

Lanza publicly criticized Venezuela’s freedom of expression in an “irresponsible and biased” way and failed to contact the state before publishing a negative press release.      

“There is no doubt that this reprehensible behaviour is part of a national and international political-media campaign to discredit the Venezuelan state and its government on freedom of expression,” said Alvarez.            

“Venezuela today is characterized by a deep respect for the right to freedom of expression in the broadest sense, protecting the exercise of that right beyond vision of private media corporations to give space to all individual and collective expression, in a country where the plurality of opinions are expressed through social media and thousands of community and alternative media,” he added.

Alvarez’s speech ended with an appeal to respect the standards of ethics in the OAS and the human rights commission.