Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We continue to be preoccupied with the question of the autonomy of the judiciary. Our ambassador has been very engaged on these files in his conversations. I think we've expressed our views in various ways, including support to civil society and questions to the legal community,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm probably not close enough to the situation to fully answer that question. It is a question I can take under advisement. Certainly a range of candidates were in the election. I can't speak to the percentage of women, for example, in the congress and such. I don't think Venezue

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, you can say that yes, the election took place in a transparent fashion. Our view is that the means by which they undertake elections in Venezuela is fair. They have a professional system of voting, an electronic system. Our view is that the process itself, the actual vo

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  No. Since the election, I can't say I have. There were some reports of violence against the opposition. A couple of workers in the opposition party were killed a week or two before the vote, but since then, I haven't been aware of anything.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Madam, I think we had that question a little while ago. Actually, we've not heard anything lately. I would have to go back a number of months, to when we talked about this other issue, but I've not seen anything lately.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We would certainly regret that announcement. It's part of a larger pattern we see. Venezuela, essentially, is not supportive of the Organization of the American States. It doesn't accept that regional human rights organizations and commissions have a legitimate role. It challenge

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think in the case of Venezuela, a number of what we would call our traditional friends all have similar problems of access, of doing their normal diplomatic work. The United States, for example, has chargé-level representation in Caracas. The United Kingdom, some of the other c

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I said in my remarks, sir, you could look at some indicators in Venezuela in a positive light. There have been reductions in the level of poverty, and an increased availability of housing. Again, this is a country with severe inequities in income. Some of that has been diminis

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As you are aware, sir, there were some incidents in the past. The last one I'm aware of was a posting on a government website of language we felt was offensive to those of the Jewish faith in Venezuela. I was actually in Caracas at that time and raised this with the foreign minis

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'd have to take that question under advisement, sir, because I don't know.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We will get back to you. Because of the lack of relations, we represent Israel's consular interests in Venezuela in accordance with the Vienna Convention, but I can't speak beyond my particular region. I'd want to check on that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would want to check on that, sir. I couldn't speak for other regions, but I can certainly speak in terms of Latin America and the Caribbean. We have a lot of programming of that nature in a number of countries where there may be human rights challenges, as you mentioned, but i

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think there may be some evidence of physical risk, but it's a non-welcoming environment for them to work in, and that's the challenge they face. You can identify some countries where human rights advocates are aggressed physically or may suffer a worse fate than that. I would s

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would want to get back to you, sir, on the exact size of the fund, but generally speaking, funds of that nature at our missions are usually between $50,000 and $150,000, something like that. I have a list here of some of the Canada fund projects. I can highlight a couple of the

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  These are in Spanish, so please bear with me. For example, one is with a group called UNIANDES, for promotion of women's human rights, and support for women dealing with issues affecting violence against women in Venezuela. There is another with an entity called the House of the