Executive Summary
Full Report (NOTE: Available in Spanish only.)
Profile
Case Documents
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Alberto Frederico Ravell Arreaza is the general director of Globovisión, the only 24-hour news and information channel in Venezuela.
On December 1, 1994, Globovisión began broadcasting using a complex format where information is the cornerstone of its programming. Globovisión’s revolutionary mission is to be “an informative reference for Venezuela.” Its programming is wide-ranging and diverse, including shows about national and international news, opinion, political analysis, entertainment, health, sports, travel, music, and science and technology.
Along with other Venezuelan private media outlets, Globovisión has been subjected to an increasingly hostile environment of verbal threats and physical violence directed against its staff. This hostile environment is publicly promoted by the Venezuelan government, and the government’s statements are interpreted by party members as direct orders to follow. It includes the government-mandated shutdown of one of Venezuela’s oldest private channels, Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) (see www.FreeRCTV.com); the government’s use of administrative sanction proceedings; the intimidation of directors and journalists at private media channels via judicial and penal actions; various rulings by Venezuelan courts enabling “judicial censorship” and limiting freedom of speech; the passing of the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television (December 7, 2004), which regulates the content transmitted by Venezuelan radio and television channels and which was protested by numerous international organizations defending the freedom of the press; the March 26, 2005 reform of the Venezuelan Penal Code criminalizing the “contempt or vilification of public officials,” which was described by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as “indirectly restrict[ing] freedom of expression because it threatens those who insult or offend a public official with imprisonment or fines, which discourages citizens from expressing their opinions about issues of public interest”; and the constant use of incendiary rhetoric by government authorities against independent media outlets which do not directly support President Hugo Chávez’s “Bolivarian Revolution.” In such an environment, freedom of expression is constantly abused and violated as state policy.
For more than five years, Globovisión has resisted attacks against its facilities, directors, journalists, and other employees. There have been more than 25 physical attacks against journalists, cameramen, and technicians, and 17 acts of equipment vandalism. Two broken grenades were launched at the Globovisión headquarters in Caracas, and offices in Maracaibo were also attacked and damaged. There have been multiple death threats to various Globovisión journalists, and network news reporters have been hospitalized after being attacked in the field. Globovisión’s 430 employees live in permanent fear of being assaulted at any time by government partisans and agents of state security. These are just some of the consequences of the campaign against independent media in Venezuela being waged by the highest government officials, beginning with the president and extending to various ministers, governors and deputies, among others. The Human Rights Foundation emphatically condemns these actions as human rights violations—specifically the right to life, the right to personal integrity, and the right to freedom of expression.
Alberto Frederico Ravell’s case as general director of Globovisión is emblematic of the plight of directors and employees of all private Venezuelan news channels that maintain an independent editorial position and do not genuflect to the views of the ruling party, and are as a result persecuted by the Venezuelan government and its supporters.
| Last and First Names: | Alberto Federico Ravell |
| Place of Birth: | Caracas |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Spouse: | Natalia Nolck |
| Children: | Beatriz Elena, Ana Carolina, Alberto Federico, Isabel Cristina, and Juan Andrés Ravell Nolck |
| Grandchildren: | Sabrina de Veer Ravell, Alberto de Veer Ravell, Alejandro Vilela Ravell, and Clementina Ramírez Ravell |
| Languages: | Spanish and English |
| 1968 | Founds Radio Angostura. |
| 1969 | Founds Radio Canaima. |
| 1973 | Appointed communications director for the presidential campaign of Carlos Andrés Pérez. |
| 1974 | Upon being elected president, Carlos Andrés Pérez names him director of the national government’s Communications Office. |
| 1978 | Appointed Communications Director for the presidential campaign of Luis Piñerúa Ordaz. |
| 1980 | Founds the publicity agency Octavo Arte. |
| 1985 | Appointed President of Venezolana de Televisión, Venezuela’s public broadcasting station. |
| 1987 | Returns to the Communiations Office during the presidency of Jaime Lusinchi. |
| 1988 | Founds Televen, channel 10. |
| 1989 | Continues his efforts to modernize Venezuelan television by founding Cablevision and Cinecanal. |
| 1994 | Proposes the creation of a 24-hour news channel in Venezuela. His proposal leads to the birth of Globovisión, on channel 33, of which he is partner and general director. |
Biography
Both a lawyer and a journalist, Alberto Ravell has been interested and immersed in mass media since the age of 13. He has been persevering, controversial, and creative. He was involved in democratic activism during his youth and was appointed to public office at 28, serving as director of the national Communications Office.
His experience in radio and television, along with his skills in management, journalism, and publicity make him one of the pioneers of the new television age in Venezuela. His proposal to privatize the public broadcasting network, Venezolana de Television, and have it compete with other private stations was seen as innovative and seminal. He founded Televen, channel 10, with community-focused news shows and programming directed at a broad range of viewers from diverse social backgrounds. During the last ten years, Ravell has worked for Globovisión, the only 24-hour news channel in Venezuela, whose programming is broadcast internationally.
- Decision 1013 from the TSJ Constitutional Court
- Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television
Freedom of expression in Venezuela: Reports from other international organizations
- IACHR Report (Venezuela 2003): Report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the right to freedom of expression and thought in Venezuela.
- Press and Society Institute (IPYS): The reports about freedom of expression in Venezuela for 2002-2005 express concern for journalistic freedom in the country. This organization analyzes specific situations in which freedoms of the press and information are threatened.
- “Defending Free Media in Difficult Environments” forum organized by the National Endowment for Democracy.. Speech by Ewald Scharfenberg, executive director of IPYS Venezuela.
- Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ): This organization has published a special report about the situation of freedom of the press in Venezuela in 2007. The report includes a list of eight (8) recommendations that CPJ makes to the Venezuelan government. The organization has also released numerous warnings since 2000.
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF): The French organization analyzes the case of Venezuela in its 2007 annual report, and also in its 2004 and 2005 reports. Since 2001, RSF has denounced fifty-six (56) situations in which freedom of the press has been threatened.
- Inter American Press Association (SIP/IAPA): Of all international organizations dedicated to defending freedom of the press in the Americas, SIP has been the one most openly critical of the Venezuelan government. It releases detailed reports biannually about the Venezuelan situation. It also publishes related news and resolutions approved by the members of its general assembly.
06/12/2007 - YouTube
Globovisión condemns acts of violence against its staff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxfjkv72xYo
20/11/2007 - You Tube
Iris Varela attacks Gustavo Azócar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58PyCVklRz8
15/11/2007 - YouTube
Ravell: “We must vote”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AyxyuSvVaMQ
14/11/2007 - YouTube
Severe milk shortage in Venezuela
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DecbCla13U&feature=related
14/11/2007 - YouTube (RCTV International)
Chavez’s ideology threatens Globovisión
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N_u94PxL29Y
14/11/2007 - YouTube (RCTV Internacional)
A pro-Chávez governor attacks Ravell
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6681261147087417154
22/10/2007 - YouTube (Venezolana de Televisión)
“La Hojilla” (a government-sponsored television program) attacks Ravell
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gbwAIKybjP0
18/09/2007 - National Endowment for Democracy
Freedom of expression in Venezuela
http://www.ned.org/mm/091807/20070919_democ_Scharfenberg.wmv
27/06/2007 - YouTube
A fateful day for journalism and freedom in Venezuela
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2mZGHH9QshI
09/06/2007 - YouTube (Globovisión)
Ravell outside the attorney general’s office
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5336470113819687101&q=Alberto+Ravell
02/06/2007 - YouTube
Pro-Chávez rally threatens Globovisión
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2bvW_fUR9I
30/05/2007 - YouTube
Ravell speaks with “Journalists for Truth”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vvaCtcYsTQ
29/05/2007 - YouTube
Chávez threatens Globovisión on national television
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPIodXlauAs&eurl=http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/?p=5224
25/05/2007 - YouTube
Aggression towards Globovisión
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ptxBGaBpLs
11/04/2007 - YouTube
Ravell’s evidence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2-YvfEFkZA&feature=related