As part of our efforts to amplify AILA Law Reviewauthors Emercio José Aponte and Andrea Paola Aponte share more about their article in the new issue AILA Law Journal Fall 2023 Edition titled “The Bolivarian Concept of the Enemy Within: What Does It Mean for Venezuelan Asylum Seekers?” in which they discuss how Venezuela’s current authoritarian regime violates citizens’ human rights and what this means for asylum applications. Members of AILA, read editor Cyrus Mehta’s preview of the entire issue here then access your free digital copy of the Law Journal to know more !
The inspiration for “The Bolivarian Concept of the Enemy Within: What Does It Mean for Venezuelan Asylum Seekers?” » was born from the increasing seriousness of the human rights violations committed by the authoritarian regime of Nicolas Maduro against its opponents through the use of the label “enemy within” and the way in which this reality can contribute to supporting Venezuelan asylum cases. Given that not only does our office handle a multitude of Venezuelan asylum cases, but also that all of our workers are from Venezuela, we felt the desire to research and delve deeper into this issue in an effort to help others to really understand the situation in Venezuela and in the country. in this way it will also contribute to improving the situation of Venezuelan asylum seekers.
In this regard, it is important to keep in mind that the immigration judge or asylum officer cannot require the applicant to provide proof that there is a reasonable possibility that he or she will be individually targeted for persecution if a pattern or practice of persecution of a group of people similarly situated to the applicant due to one or more of the five protected grounds and the applicant demonstrates that their own inclusion and his identification with this group of people exists in his country of origin. (8 CFR §§ 208.13(b)(2)(iii), 1208.13(b)(2)(iii))
The existence of this “internal enemy”, well documented by various international bodies and reinforced by the investigation into crimes against humanity carried out before the International Criminal Court, demonstrates the existence of systemic and widespread persecution on the part of of part of the Maduro party. authoritarian regime against all those who oppose it in any way. We have written this article in the hope that it will help consolidate the protection of Venezuelans who have expressed an opinion against the government based on systemic and widespread persecution against those labeled as the “internal enemy.”
Furthermore, and because the existence of the internal enemy in Venezuela implies the impossibility of publicly expressing opposition to the regime without risking persecution, we wanted to underline the seriousness of the situation by using the doctrine of religious persecution and applying it to the case. of political persecution. In cases of religious persecution, courts have held that forcing someone to renounce or conceal their religious beliefs constitutes persecution. Taking these elements into account, we asserted that persecution based on political opinion should be subject to the same level of severity as religious persecution because, applying the same logic as its doctrine, requiring a person to refrain from hiding and freely expressing political opinions should be considered persecution.
We hope that this article will be used by immigration attorneys working on Venezuelan asylum cases to prove that Venezuelan asylum seekers who have expressed an opinion against the government are part of a group that is systematically and generally persecuted by the regime and therefore have a well-founded fear of future persecution based on the existence of a pattern or practice of persecution of a group of people in a similar situation to that of the applicant due to one or more of the five protected grounds and the applicant establishes his or her own inclusion in, and identification with, such group.
Likewise, we also hope that in cases where the Venezuelan asylum seeker has been forced to hide his political views to avoid persecution, the doctrine of religious persecution will be used to argue the existence of past persecution as a form of psychological persecution.