EDITOR’S

14 World Report - Latin America
ISSUE 64-15
IBAHRI greatly concerned as Venezuela continues to
target lawyers and human rights defenders
The International Bar Association’s
Human Rights
Institute (IBAHRI) is gravely
concerned at the ongoing
targeting of lawyers and
human rights defenders in
Venezuela. The public call
made by the President of
the National Assembly, Diosdado
Cabello, for the imprisonment
of Judge María
Lourdes Afiuni’s defence
lawyers exemplifies a worrying
trend.
Mr Cabello, who is also the
Vice-President of the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela,
made the remark on 22
July 2015 on the television
programme Con el Mazo
Dando, which he hosts. During
the broadcast he called
for the imprisonment of Juan
Garantón, Thelma Fernández
and José Amalio Graterol
on the grounds of alleged
contempt of court.
A group of United Nand Inter-American
Commission on
Human Rights experts have
previously expressed serious
concern at the use of Con el
Mazo Dando, transmitted by
the state network, to target
human rights defenders and
have called on the Venezuelan
authorities ‘to immediately
cease the targeting of
rights activists’.
IBAHRI Co-Chair Hans Corell
commented: ‘The IBAHRI
would like to remind the
Venezuelan authorities of
their responsibilities under
international law, including
Inter-American human rights
instruments, to protect and
uphold human rights and the
independence of the legal
profession. This includes the
fundamental principle that
lawyers should not be associated
with the causes of their
Energy M&A to have a weaker 2015
but to pick up in following years
The energy sectors will
continue to see significant
merger and acquisition activity
over the next five years
reveals a unique new forecast
by Baker & McKenzie
published in association with
Oxford Economics.
The report predicts an estimated
$136 billion in completed
energy deals in 2015,
down from $371 billion in
2014. However, the forecast
assumes that number
will pick up to $251 billion in
2016, $326 billion in 2017 before
peaking in 2018 at over
$350 billion.
Jim O'Brien, Global Energy
leader at Baker & McKenzie
explains, "Although the
drop in oil prices has helped
fuel the global economic
recovery, there have been
negative implications for energy
producers, prompting
a wave of consolidation in
the energy sector. Transactions
should unfold over the
next three years as high-cost
oil producers, especially USbased
hydraulic frackers
that face illiquidity in rolling
over their high-yield debt,
are ripe for takeover.
"Globally, we expect less
efficient and high-cost oil
producers to become vulnerable
to acquisition as
they strive to compete in an
industry in which innovation
is keeping oil prices low. The
quest for geographic expansion
and the need for new
technologies and services
will also drive M&A activity."
Markets that are predicted
to grow the fastest in terms
of overall M&A in the next
5 years across all sectors
are China, The Netherlands,
Mexico, India, UK, Germany,
Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and
the UAE.
"Many US and European
companies have accumulated
large cash balances
available for acquiring new
businesses," explains Tim
Gee, Baker & McKenzie's
global head of M&A. "Financial
sponsors also have the
potential to boost global
transactions, with private equity
firms sitting on a record
US$1.1 trillion in uninvested
capital. Cross-border transactions
will play a significant
role as companies look to
gain market presence in
high growth markets."
The projections are part of
a unique 6-year forecast of
global transactional activity,
developed in partnership
with Oxford Economics. The
comprehensive report, The
Impact of Macro Trends on
Future M&A and IPO Activity
sets out predictions across
regions, sectors and individual
countries worldwide until
2020, linking economic outlook
with corporate activity.
clients.’ He added: ‘That defence
lawyers José Amalio
Graterol, Thelma Fernández,
and Juan Garantón be
chastised publicly by Mr Cabello
is unacceptable. The
likely consequence of such
action is to intimidate and
subdue Venezuela’s wider
Blackboard Acquires
Nivel Siete
Blackboard has acquired
Nivel Siete, a leading Moodle
provider operating in
Latin America. By joining
their forces, the two companies
will be able to offer
more services and solutions
to organizations that
leverage Moodle, one of
the most widely used learning
management systems
(LMS) in the world, and
support a greater number
of learners to achieve their
educational goals.
Nivel Siete offers a variety
of learning solutions,
hosting, support and consulting
services that help
organizations succeed in
their teaching and learning
initiatives, especially those
that focus on the use of e-
learning for talent management
and training. Headquartered
in Colombia, the
company serves over 200
customers in Mexico, Colombia,
Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela,
Honduras and the
Dominican Republic.
"The addition of Nivel Siete
to the Blackboard family
testifies to our commitment
to open source," said
Matthew Small, senior vice
president and managing
director, international at
Blackboard. "We are seeing
strong momentum for our
open source solutions and
in particular for Moodlerooms,
with the addition of
more than 80 new customers
around the world in the
legal profession. As lawyers
are hindered from carrying
out their professional duties
effectively, this in turn would
lead to the undermining of
public confidence in the administration
of justice in the
country.’
last few months and a significant
growth in Mexico,
Colombia, Peru and Brazil.
Our open source solutions
play an integral part in our
strategy and we will continue
to support their growth. I
am thrilled to work together
with the team at Nivel Siete
and improve the educational
experience for learners
in Latin America."
"We are excited to join
forces with Blackboard and
help learners and organizations
be successful," said
José Diáz, CEO at Nivel Siete.
"By working together
with Blackboard we will be
able to enhance the range
of solutions and services
we provide to institutions
and businesses across Latin
America. The local Moodle
community will benefit from
this acquisition, as it will
open up new opportunities
to share knowledge and
best practices."
This announcement marks
the latest investment made
by Blackboard in open
source after the recent acquisitions
of Remote-Learner
UK and X-Ray Analytics
technology. Since officially
joining the open source
community in 2012, Blackboard
has been contributing
to Moodle with code,
quality assurance, platform
integrations and bug fixes.
It has also supported many
community gatherings
across the world.
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