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2020 RLLR 140

Citation: 2020 RLLR 140
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: January 14, 2020
Panel: Kari Schroeder
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Leonardo Jose Di Leone Velasquez
Country: Venezuela
RPD Number: VB9-03821
Associated RPD Number(s): VB9-03830, VB9-03834
ATIP Number: A-2021-01106
ATIP Pages: 000154-000157

DECISION

[1]       MEMBER: This is the decision of the Refugee Protection Division in the claims [XXX] as the principal claimant, [XXX] as the associate claimant, and [XXX] as the minor claimant, as citizens of Venezuela who are claiming refugee protection pursuant to Section 96 and Subsection 97(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Allegations

[2]       The following is a brief synopsis of the allegations put forward by the claimants. The principal claimant worked for the [XXX] for 13 years. He is opposed to President Maduro’s government and fears persecution because of his political views. The claimant does not support any particular political party but has attended several street rallies and protests. While employed with the [XXX] the claimant heard about minor incidents of corruption and reported them to his superior. However, in his last year of working with the company, the claimant noticed some incidents of corruption that involved millions of dollars. He and two other [XXX] worked to expose this corruption in [XXX] of 2018 after the claimant no longer worked there. While the claimant was in the United States, he learned that the [XXX] were arrested, the claimant inquired with a lawyer and after confirming there were no charges against him, returned to Venezuela in [XXX] of 2018.

[3]       The claimant became politically active again upon his return, he began receiving threatening phone calls in [XXX] of 2019, in [XXX] his son was threatened and fled the country. The claimant continued to receive calls in which he was accused of consp-, conspiring against the state and hindering business deals with the [XXX]. The claimants left Venezuela on [XXX] of 2019, they did not claim protection in the United States. They learned that a group of soldiers had visited their home on [XXX], 2019 and confiscated the claimants’ computers.  The claimants fear that if they return to Venezuela, they will experience detention, further intimidation, or be killed.

Determination

[4]       I find that the claimants are Convention refugees pursuant to Section 97 of the Act for the reasons that follow.

ANALYSIS

[5]       The claimants’ identities have been established today through certified copies of their passports on file and I am satisfied that they are both and as well as the minor claimant, nationals of Venezuela. In terms of credibility, there is a presumption of truth applied to all claimants, unless there is a reason to doubt their allegations. Today, both claimants testified and they were credible and straightforward witnesses, they offered canor-, candid and spontaneous testimony and did not embellish, even when given the opportunity to do so. There were no material contradictions between your testimony and the Basis of Claim forms that would cause me to doubt their allegations.

[6]       The principal claimant testified that he noticed, starting in 2014, that some purchases for the contract of services with [XXX] were taking place in a very irregular manner, outside of Venezuela laws. The claimant testified that this generated some very intense discussions with his boss, who did not respond positively. The claimant refused to approve these processes and so his boss delegated that responsibility to someone else. As the claimant rose in the company, he had access to more and more information. He testified that starting in 2017, he was involved in some very large purchases and noticed that the company was purchasing extremely expensive equipment from out of the country, which in the claimant’s view was unnecessary. He filed a complaint, along with two other employees, [XXX] named [XXX] and [XXX], to the Prevention and Control of Losses in mid-2017. He hoped that this would prompt an investigation and an audit, he met directly with that manager and was hoping that some action would be taken, however, nothing was done. The claimant decided to leave the [XXX] in [XXX] of 2017 because of political pressure and because he had angered some higher up people. He clarified that at that time he had become more politically active, participating in more demonstrations as well as volunteering and coordinating logistics, to ensure people’s presence at demonstrations. He also distributed water and food and would assist people who were injured, the claimant believes that this made him more visible. The claimant testified that he supported all opposition parties, although he did some volunteer work for the Democratic Action Party. After the claimant left the company at the beginning of [XXX] of 2018, the claimant met with the two other [XXX] and gave them some of the additional information he had, to add to their complaint, he then left for the United States to visit his brother. That was when he learned about the detention of [XXX] and that [XXX] had fled the country to avoid detention. The claimant spoke to a lawyer and returned in [XXX] 2018 once he felt it was safe. In [XXX] 2019, the claimant testified that he began to receive threatening phones from the Colectivos.

[7]       The claimant believes that when the armed soldiers visited his home in 2019 that they were searching for some sort of further information about the complaints they had made. When I asked the claimant, what had prompted him to ramp up his political activity in 2017, he testified that through his position with [XXX] he was watching money being given freely to other countries. While people in his country were starving and being denied access to basic services, such as water and healthcare. The claimant spoke of his country as being in the clutches of a dictatorship and a criminal organization, he described Juan Guaidó as the only constitutionally legitimate president.

[8]       I also questioned the associate claimant today and she testified that she would accompany her husband in all demonstrations that was also not affiliated with any particular party. The claimant testified that she has never been directly threatened herself but that her children were. She described how at the end of [XXX] of 2019 when the Colectivo-, Colectivos called they threatened their son directly. They knew information about their son, including his routine and his place of study, they then threatened to kill him and he had to leave the country. The associate claimant testified that she participated in approximately 50 to 60 protests, beginning around 2014, she continued her participation, even when her husband was in the United States for several months. And so, I accept that her political opinions exist separate and apart from the principal claimant. She described the regime as malignant, the claimant also believes that their lives would be in danger if they were to return. Finally, the principal claimant testified that his former colleague [XXX] is still in detention to this day.

[9]       I have documentary evidence to corroborate the claim, including an activism certificate from the Democratic Action Party. As well as of-, as a copy of the complaint that the principal claimant made to the prevention and control of lasses. I have several letters corroborating events which took place in Venezuela before the claimants left. Based on the totality of the evidence, I accept that both claimants are opposed to the regime and have expressed anti-government political opinions, both through street protest and in the case of the principal claimant through anti-corruption complaints. Given that the claimants’ house was raided, I also find that the minor claimant has established a subjective fear of returning despite her young age. I find there is a Nexus between the claimants’ allegations on the Convention ground of political opinion. The duty of this Panel is, therefore, to determine whether the claimants’ fears are well-founded, having accepted the claimants’ allegations, I turn to the evidence on the treatment of political opponents in Venezuela.

[10]     The objective evidence before me corroborates the claim, on [XXX] of last year, the government organized snap Presidential elections that were neither free nor fair. Nicolás Maduro was re-elected through this deeply flawed political process, which much of the opposition boycotted and the international community condemned, and this can be found at Document 2.1 of the National Documentation Package. The evidence also confirms that several thousand people have been detained in connection with anti­government demonstrations in Venezuela. The government routinely detains political opponents, including lesser-known activists or people whom the government believes have links to the political opposition. The government has issued an indefinite ban on all protests.

[11]     According to a report by Freedom House, also in the NDP, Venezuela is one of two countries in the Western hemisphere along with Cuba to be rated as not free by Freedom House. Political prisoners are subject to torture and other human rights abuses. There is pervasive corruption and impunity among all security forces and in government offices. Several hundred people have been killed or harmed in protests. Non­-governmental organizations also publish reports that authorities generally mistreat, abuse, and threaten to kill detainees. Civilian political prisoners were routinely held in military prisons, those found guilty of insulting the President are subject to lengthy prison terms in abhorred conditions. Opponents of the government are frequently harassed and intimidated by the National Guard, the Savane, and members of the Colectivos, family members of political opponents are also targeted.

[12]     Therefore, based on the totality of the evidence before me, I find that the claimants have established through sufficient reliable evidence that they face a serious possibility of persecution if they return to Venezuela because of their opposition to the current government and the evidence establishing that political opponents are persecuted. Further, given that the State is the agent of harm in this case, l find that there is no operationally effective state protection available to the claimants. I also find that there are no internal flight alternatives available to the claimants in their particular circumstances because opponents of the government face a risk of persecution throughout the country. I, therefore, find that the claimants face a serious possibility of persecution in Venezuela, no matter where they live.

CONCLUSION

[13]     I find that the claimants are Convention refugees pursuant to the Act and the Board, therefore, accepts their claims, today.

———- REASONS CONCLUDED ———-