Venezuela: Information on the National Communist Party
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 October 1992 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | VEN11995 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Venezuela: Information on the National Communist Party, 1 October 1992, VEN11995, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab4c5b.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
As per our telephone conversation, information on a party under the name National Communist Party could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB. Please find attached some documents which deal with the organization and activities of the Communist Party of Venezuela. Information on the treatment of its members by government authorities could not be found among the available sources.
The attached documents indicate that the Communist Party of Venezuela (CPV) operates legally, holding one seat in congress since the December 1988 general election. It publishes the weekly Tribuna Popular (Staar 1989, 155-156; Hobday 1990, 459-460).
For recent background information, please find attached two articles on the human rights situation in Venezuela that add to the information available at your Regional Documentation Centre. These and other recent reports not attached to this Response mention the forceful quelling of some demonstrations, arbitrary arrests and threats. The Andean Commission of Jurists, for example, mentions that the attempted coup of February 1992 was followed by arbitrary arrests of union, grassroots, student and neighbourhood leaders (Mar. 92, 7).
Amnesty International has reported in various publications since 1987 the detention of what it describes as political prisoners. These include some activists of "left-wing" groups. Although the group with which these prisoners are affiliated is sometimes named, specific references to members of the Communist Party could not be found in these reports.
References
Andean Commission of Jurists. March 1992. Andean Newsletter [Lima]. No. 64. "Venezuela."
Hobday, Charles. 1990. Communist and Marxist Parties of the World. 2nd edited and revised by Roger East. Chicago: St. James Press.
Staar, Richard F., ed. 1989. Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1989: Parties and Revolutionary Movement s. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press.
Attachments
Andean Commission of Jurists. January 1992. Andean Newsletter [Lima]. No. 62. "Human Rights Report Published."
Banks, Arthur S., ed. 1991. Political Handbook of the World: 1991. Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications, p. 756.
Hobday, Charles. 1990. Communist and Marxist Parties of the World. 2nd edited and revised by Roger East. Chicago: St. James Press, pp. 459-464.
Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 8 October 1992. Bart Jones. "Shootings Fuel More Unrest in Venezuela." Lima: Noticias Aliadas.
Staar, Richard F., ed. 1989. Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1989: Parties and Revolutionary Movement s. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, pp. 155-158.