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JOSE MIGUEL INSULZA EXPRESSES SATISFACTION WITH END OF HUNGER STRIKE BY VENEZUELAN STUDENTS

  December 8, 2009

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, today expressed satisfaction with the lifting of the hunger strike by a group of students staged in front of the Organization’s National Office in Caracas, Venezuela. Yesterday, Secretary General Insulza sent a mission headed by his Senior Adviser Antonia Urrejola, the Organization’s resident physician, Dr. Rodrigo Hurtado, and an official of the Secretariat for Political Affairs, Rodrigo Zubieta. The mission met with students to verify their condition. The mission interviewed this morning with the students and their lawyers, and held telephone conversations with some people whose rights, according to the students, were being breached.

“We wanted the students to end their protest for their own well-being, and in this way dialogue can be reestablished in a normal framework for a possible visit of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a visit that must be authorized by its government,” Insulza declared. “We have committed to pursuing these actions. With respect to my own visit, it would take place in a more general context in the near future on a date I hope to set directly with Venezuelan authorities through the appropriate channels, to analyze various matters of mutual interest,” Secretary General Insulza concluded.

Reference: E-409/09