Human Rights Watch director banished from Venezuela says Chávez had been planning his expulsion

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SANTIAGO.-  The director of Human Rights Watch in Latin America, José Miguel Vivanco, expelled from Venezuela this weekend for his critique of the Venezuelan democracy during a conference, asserts that President Hugo Chávez used the critique as an excuse to make him leave the country, since tense relations with the organization had been building for some time.

"That very night, Chavéz said: 'I called Chancellor Nicolás Maduro, I saw that he was attacking Venezuela and I ordered that he be expelled'. This is the kind of democracy that is unfortunately reigning in Venezuela, without limits, without control", Vivanco told Radio Cooperativa.

The director of the organization stated that the group's relationship with Venezuela was complicated, indicating that the government had voiced insults on several occasions in the past accusing the organization of being "part of a campaign to obstruct and distort the truth".

With regards to the way he was expelled from Venezuela, Vivanco maintained that the video shown of the incident was edited and did not display the parts where officials broke his cell phone and forced him into custody.

Additionally, Vivanco assured that the excuse used, indicating that he did not have a visa, was false since Chileans are not required to have a Visa in order to enter Venezuela.