Súmate
Encyclopedia
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Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for "Join Up") is a Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n volunteer civil association founded in 2002 by María Corina Machado
María Corina Machado
María Corina Machado Parisca is a founder, former vice president, and former president of the Venezuelan volunteer civil organization Súmate, along with Alejandro Plaz....
and Alejandro Plaz
Alejandro Plaz
Alejandro Plaz Castillo is a founder of the Venezuelan volunteer civil association, Súmate.Plaz is a Venezuelan electrical engineer and management consultant who holds three Master’s degrees , and was a Senior partner for McKinsey & Company in Latin America, before taking a leave of absence to...
. Súmate describes itself as a vote-monitoring group; it has also been described as an election-monitoring group.
Mission and values
Súmate is a non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
(NGO) whose stated aim is to promote the free exercise of citizen's political rights, and the discussion of matters of public interest. The group's mission is to promote, defend, facilitate, and back the political rights accorded to citizens by the Constitution of Venezuela
Constitution of Venezuela
||The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constitutional assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution - the longest...
.
Súmate's espoused values are:
- The guarantee of civil and political freedom and rights
- Impartial and independent citizen participation in democratic processes
- Professional volunteerism with a high level of citizen participation
- Organizational transparency and efficacy
Other projects are the consolidation of a national network of volunteers; analysis of voter registration; planning and execution of parallel vote counts to strengthen confidence in electoral processes; and educational programs.
History
Hugo ChávezHugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
was elected
Venezuelan presidential election, 1998
In the Venezuelan presidential election of 1998, Hugo Chávez was elected to his first term as President of Venezuela with the largest percentage of the popular vote in four decades...
President of Venezuela in 1998. Participation was 64%, with 36% of the electorate abstaining, resulting in a Chávez victory with 35% of the total electorate. In 1999 a new Constitution of Venezuela
Constitution of Venezuela
||The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constitutional assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution - the longest...
was approved, making Chávez eligible to run for president again in 2000, for a six-year term; and again in 2006, for another six years. This could result in a Chávez presidency of 14 years, compared to the previous presidential term limit of five years. He won the 2000 election
Venezuelan presidential election, 2000
A presidential election was held in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on July 30, 2000. This was the first election held under Venezuela's newly adopted 1999 constitution.-Results:...
with 60% of the votes cast, 33% of the total electorate, and 44% abstention.
These changes were made to the Constitution and electoral processes based on elections with an overwhelmingly support for Chávez but unprecedented voter abstention—a "poor showing" with most staying away from the polls.
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Súmate was founded with an expressed goal of achieving a high level of citizen participation in Venezuelan elections. According to The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Machado and Plaz had a hurried encounter in a hotel lobby in 2001, where they shared their concern about the course that was being shaped for Venezuela. Machado said, "Something clicked. I had this unsettling feeling that I could not stay at home and watch the country get polarized and collapse.... We had to keep the electoral process but change the course, to give Venezuelans the chance to count ourselves, to dissipate tensions before they built up. It was a choice of ballots over bullets."
According to Súmate, it is "not concerned with who governs but rather that those in power respect the rule of law."
Súmate was originally composed of a group of professionals, but now has grown to include 30,000 volunteers from across Venezuela and all walks of life.
Recall referendum, 2004
In 2003, Súmate organized a campaign to force a recall referendum revoking the remainder of the term in office of President Chávez, as provided for under Article 72 of the Constitution of Venezuela
Constitution of Venezuela
||The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constitutional assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution - the longest...
, which permits citizens to request a recall if signatures are collected from 20% of the electorate.
The recall vote was held on 15 August 2004. A record number of voters turned out but the recall was defeated with a 59% "no" vote. The Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
concluded the results were accurate, but European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
observers did not oversee the referendum, saying too many restrictions were put on their participation by the government.
An exit poll by US company Penn, Schoen & Berland
Penn, Schoen & Berland
Penn, Schoen Berland is a market research, political polling and strategic consulting firm with American offices in New York, Washington, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco, and international offices in London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Dubai, and Delhi. The firm was founded in 1975...
Associates (PSB) predicted that Chávez would lose by 20%, whereas the election results showed him to have won by 20%. Schoen commented, "I think it was a massive fraud". PSB used Súmate personnel as fieldworkers. Publication or broadcast of exit polls was banned by electoral authorities, but results of the PSB poll went out to media outlets and opposition offices several hours before polls closed. Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
said that Súmate "deliberately distributed this erroneous exit poll data in order to build up, not only the expectation of victory, but also to influence the people still standing in line".
Following the recall vote, Súmate requested that Ricardo Hausmann
Ricardo Hausmann
Ricardo Hausmann is a former Venezuelan Minister of Planning and Head of the "Presidential Office of Coordination and Planning" and current Director of Harvard's Center for International Development and a Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at John F...
of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Roberto Rigobón of MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
perform a statistical analysis analyzing how fraud could have occurred during the referendum. They concluded that the vote samples audited by the government were not a random representation of all precincts and that opposition witnesses and international observers were not allowed near the computer hub on election day. CEPR, a liberal think tank based in Washington, reports that other economists have called the Harvard/MIT assumptions about how the alleged fraud was conducted unlikely.
Treason and conspiracy charges
The group is funded in large part by private Venezuelan interests, but also reportedly received up to 6% of their funds via a grant from the U.S.- backed National Endowment for DemocracyNational Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...
. According to CBS News, Chávez branded the leaders of Súmate as conspirators, coup plotters and lackeys of the U.S. government. After the referendum, members of Súmate were charged with treason and conspiracy, under Article 132 of the Venezuelan Penal Code, for receiving financial support for their activities from the NED. The trial has been postponed several times.
The criminal charges triggered concern from Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
and the NED-related World Movement for Democracy
World Movement for Democracy
World Movement for Democracy is an international network of individuals and organizations who share the common goal of promoting democracy. The World Movement was launched in February 1999 when the National Endowment for Democracy and two nongovernmental organizations in India brought together a...
. The latter accused the Government of Venezuela of illegally "withholding case files from the defendants, using depositions of the defendants that were made before the charges against them were known, and refusing to accede to requests of the Supreme Court in the case." Tom Casey
Tom Casey (diplomat)
Tom Casey is a U.S. diplomat. He was the Deputy Spokesman and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the United States Department of State, a position to which he was appointed on 3 July 2006. Immediately prior to this assignment, he served as Director of the Office of Press...
, acting spokesman for the State Department, expressed disappointment about the court's decision to try the founders and said the charges were "without merit."
Over 70 democrats, including prominent world leaders, wrote to Chávez on 11 November 2004, pointing out that "proceeding against nongovernmental organizations for receiving democratic assistance is a violation of both the Inter-American Democratic Charter
Inter-American Democratic Charter
The Inter-American Democratic Charter was adopted on 11 September 2001 by a special session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, held in Lima, Peru. It is an inter-American instrument with the central aim of strengthening and upholding democratic institutions in the...
and the Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies
Community of Democracies
The Community of Democracies is an intergovernmental organization of democracies and democratizing countries with a stated commitment to strengthening and deepening democratic norms and practices worldwide...
, a document your government signed along with over 100 others four years ago." The letter indicated that the prosecution, "as well as the proposal to criminalize democracy assistance from abroad" are both "clearly inconsistent with international democratic norms and constitute a grave threat to democracy." Signatories of the letter included Czech President Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
, U.S. Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell
Kim Campbell
Avril Phædra Douglas "Kim" Campbell, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, university professor, diplomat, and writer. She served as the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 25, 1993, to November 4, 1993...
, former Nicaraguan President Violeta Chamorro
Violeta Chamorro
Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro is a Nicaraguan political leader, former president and publisher. She became president of Nicaragua on April 25, 1990, when she unseated Daniel Ortega...
, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Philip Dimitrov
Filip Dimitrov
Philip Dimitrov Dimitrov is a Bulgarian politician, Prime Minister of Bulgaria for the short period 1991-1992, MP in the 36th , 37th and the 40th National Assembly, and MEP from January 2007 to May 2007....
, and Richard Goldstone
Richard Goldstone
Richard Joseph Goldstone is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 1990 to 1994...
, former prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
.
A 2008 Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
report highlighted Sumate.
Presidential elections, 2006
Súmate recommended procedures for a primaryPrimary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
, to be held on 13 August 2006, to choose the opposition candidate for the 3 December 2006 presidential elections.
Venezuelan presidential election, 2006
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela held presidential elections on 3 December 2006, to choose a president for the six-year term to begin on 10 January 2007...
Teodoro Petkoff
Teodoro Petkoff
Teodoro Petkoff Malec is a Venezuelan politician, ex-guerrilla, journalist and economist. One of the most prominent politicians on the left in Venezuela, Petkoff began as a communist but gravitated towards liberalism in the 1990s. As Minister of Planning he oversaw President Rafael Caldera's...
, a Chávez critic, said that Súmate's procedure was authoritarian, comparing it to the Carmona Decree. Nine other candidates agreed to the terms for holding a primary, confirming their desire to allow the citizens to choose the opposition candidate. Another candidate condemned Petkoff's remarks against Súmate, saying that Petkoff's statements didn't help the country, and explaining that the conditions for holding a primary had been previously discussed between all of the candidates, including Petkoff. On 9 August, Súmate announced that the 13 August primary election would not be held, since the candidates had decided to back Manuel Rosales
Manuel Rosales
Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero is a Venezuelan educator and politician and was the most prominent opposition candidate in the 2006 presidential election, losing to incumbent Hugo Chávez...
as the single opposition candidate. Machado said that the primary "initiative accomplished its goal and that Súmate would continue working to ensure clean elections and respect for citizens' rights."
On 8 December 2006, Súmate announced that their count and audits of the final election results matched the official count of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council
National Electoral Council (Venezuela)
The National Electoral Council is one of the five independent branches of government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. It is the institution that oversees and guarantees the transparency of all elections and referendums in Venezuela at the local, regional, and national levels...
, that showed a landslide victory for Hugo Chávez, highlighting that "balloting was not clean, transparent or reliable." Machado said the Government had stacked the odds against the opposition in the pre-election period, including "a climate of collective intimidation" due to the use of fingerprint-reading machines and an unaudited register of voters, and that if irregularities had been corrected, they could have impacted the final result. She clarified that the impact could not be assessed, saying "We will know only the truth about what Venezuelans really feel, the day when clean elections are held in Venezuela."
Impartiality
Critics say that Súmate is not an impartial organization. Súmate describes itself as a civil association not concerned with who governs, but the Venezuelan democracy.Other sources describe Súmate as an election or vote-monitoring group, a civic organization or civic society, a voting rights organization, an NGO or Venezuela's largest nongovernmental organization, a "nongovernmental organization resisting efforts by President Hugo Chavez's to turn Venezuela into a dictatorship", a Venezuelan group that helped organize the recall initiative, an organization that mobilized petitioners for the recall of Chavez, a pro-democracy nonprofit group, a volunteer organization of democracy activists, and a watchdog group or election watchdog organization.
Juan Forero of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
referred to Súmate as an anti-Hugo Chavez election-monitoring organization, and an antigovernment group. The BBC has referred to Sumate at least three times as an "opposition group". Venezuela’s El Universal consistently refers to Súmate as an NGO, but has called it an opposition NGO in the past. The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
says of Machado, “a friend invited her to create a pro-democracy group”, but adds that Larry Birns
Larry Birns
Larry Birns is the director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a liberal, not-for-profit organization monitoring human rights and political developments in Latin America. Birns grew up in New York City and graduated from Columbia University, eventually doing postgraduate work in the social...
, director of the liberal Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental organization founded in 1975. In its own words, it was established to "promote the common interests of the [Western] hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the...
in Washington says that Sumate's "pro-democracy pretensions are ... a front for its anti-Chávez goals".
Other controversy
Critics say that Machado supported the 2002 coup attempt.Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002
The Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 was a failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002 that saw President Hugo Chávez ousted from office for 47 hours, being restored by a combination of military force and mass demonstration of popular support...
Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional
El Nacional
El Nacional is a Venezuelan publishing company under the name C.A. Editorial El Nacional, most widely known for its El Nacional newspaper. It, along with Últimas Noticias and El Universal, are the most widely read and circulated daily national newspapers in the country, and it has an average of...
reports that María Corina Machado's signature is among 352 signatures on the Carmona Decree. Following the brief ouster of Chávez
Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002
The Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 was a failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002 that saw President Hugo Chávez ousted from office for 47 hours, being restored by a combination of military force and mass demonstration of popular support...
on 11 April 2002, this decree dissolved the National Assembly
National Assembly of Venezuela
The National Assembly is the legislative branch of the Venezuelan government. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who are elected by "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote partly by direct election in state-based voting districts, and partly on a state-based...
(democratically elected under Chávez), the Supreme Tribunal of Justice
Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Venezuela)
The Supreme Tribunal of Justice is the highest court of law in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and is the head of the judicial branch.The Supreme Tribunal may meet either in specialized chambers or in plenary session...
and other institutions in order to hold new elections, re-establish the constitutional thread, and enact Article 350 of the Constitution of Venezuela
Constitution of Venezuela
||The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constitutional assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution - the longest...
which says the People of Venezuela shall disown any regime, legislation or authority that violates democratic values, principles and guarantees or encroaches upon human rights. According to The Christian Science Monitor, Machado says she had visited the presidential palace and wrote her name on what she thought was a sign-in sheet.
Súmate and others have denounced the government for using the list of signers of the recall petition in violation of privacy and electoral laws. Luis Tascón
Luis Tascón
Luis Tascón Gutiérrez was a Venezuelan politician and member of the National Assembly. The son of Colombian-born parents, Tascón studied Electrical Engineering at the Universidad de los Andes in Mérida, Venezuela...
, a member of the National Assembly
National Assembly of Venezuela
The National Assembly is the legislative branch of the Venezuelan government. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who are elected by "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote partly by direct election in state-based voting districts, and partly on a state-based...
representing Chávez' party (Fifth Republic Movement
Fifth Republic Movement
The Fifth Republic Movement was a left-wing, Socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the candidacy of Hugo Chávez, the current President of Venezuela, in the Venezuelan presidential...
- MVR) and the Communist Party of Venezuela
Communist Party of Venezuela
The Communist Party of Venezuela is a Marxist-Leninist political party, and the oldest continuously existing party in Venezuela...
of Táchira
Táchira (state)
Táchira State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Cristóbal.Táchira State covers a total surface area of 11,100 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,177,300....
state, under orders from Chávez to collect copies of signatures of the petitioners for the recall referendum, published on his website the identities of over 2,400,000 signers. Súmate alleged violation of privacy and electoral laws, considering reports that people who worked for the government were fired, denied work, or denied the issuance of official documents because of their appearance on the list. It is reported in summer 2006 that Venezuelan prosecutors have brought conspiracy charges against the leaders of Súmate. The pro-Chavez National Assembly is preparing to require nonprofit groups to reveal their funding sources.
Personnel
Plaz is a Venezuelan engineer and management consultant, who holds three Master’s degrees (two from Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
), and was a Senior partner for McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, before taking a leave of absence to co-found Súmate. Machado was hailed as "the best of womankind and the difficult times many women face around the globe" on a list of Women the World Should Know for International Women's Day.
Luis Enrique Palacios and Ricardo Estévez are also charged with complicity in treason and conspiracy.
External links
- Official Súmate website
- "NGO Súmate rebuts claims of illicit fundraising". El UniversalEl Universal (Caracas)El Universal is a major Venezuelan newspaper, headquartered in Caracas with an average daily circulation of about 150,000. The online version carries news, politics, sports, economy and more....
(4 August 2006). Accessed 24 February 2010. - Human Rights Watch statement on trial of Súmate founders
- Democracy Activists in Venezuela Threatened
- The State of Democracy in Venezuela, United States SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
hearing before the Committee on foreign relations. - U.S. Department of State, The State of Democracy in Venezuela, 1 December 2005.
- US Embassy statement on "conspiracy" charges against Súmate founders
- CNN article