CUSLAR, the acronym for the Committee on US-Latin American Relations, is an organization that works on the Cornell campus to promote Latin American culture and politics. Recently, they announced an event treating the subject of the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in Ayotzinapa, that took place on Sep. 26, 2014.
While the event is a commendable effort to bring light to a despicable act, its speaker is not that commendable. In fact, Luis Hernandez, the Mexican journalist invited to speak about it, is also a constant contributor to Telesur, and other news sources funded by the Venezuelan regime. This is someone who noticeably declared that Hugo Chavez was “healthy” and “energetic”, and that reports about his poor health were “a right-wing conspiracy” right before Chavez passed away.
Doubting the credibility of this speaker, I wrote a comment in the Facebook page of the event voicing my concern with this speaker. My comment, as well as the comments of other Venezuelan students concerned by this were dismissed and erased by the organizers, claiming that “some comments on this event page have gone beyond respectful debate and have degenerated into personal attacks. As this is not the proper forum for such comments, we have deleted them.”
I sincerely believe CUSLAR must have a great interest in not letting people know who this speaker is, and by extent covering up what the situation in Venezuela looks like today, just like the Venezuelan government intends to silence any dissent, and any bad publicity it gets from its constant human rights violations, including the assassination and torture of dozens of college students and dissidents. This is why I decided to re-post my comment, so you, the reader, can decide for yourself whether my claim is rightful or not.
“It is shameful to ask for justice for these college students by bringing someone who defends the Venezuelan regime, the very regime who has the blood of dozens of students in its hands. Is there a double standard when it comes to calling out regimes that kill their own people, especially in the Venezuelan case when it is the very state police and military itself that kills and tortures dissidents? I believe the Ayotzinapa students and their families deserve better than Mr. Fernandez to stand up for them, and their very important cause is only diminished by people whose hypocrisy is fueled by the money he and many others receive from the Venezuelan government to spread their very own propaganda. I encourage people myself to go beyond the appearances and question the credibility of Mr. Fernandez, whose political rhetoric and interests seem to prevail over the facts. Do not get me wrong: the Ayotzinapa students deserve justice, and the Mexican government is very responsible in their deaths. I just cannot let Mr. Fernandez go unnoticed, because as someone who was born and raised in Venezuela, and whose family still lives there, I cannot let misinformation be spread by someone who is an accomplice of human rights violations, murders and torture, and who collaborates in this situation just as much as anyone who knowingly accepts money from the Venezuelan government to spread their propaganda. Both Mexican and Venezuelan students should repudiate Mr. Fernandez, and voice their concern about the actions of both their governments.”
