Jose Miguel Vivanco

José Miguel Vivanco is the director of Americas Watch, a subsidiary of Human Rights Watch. On 19 September 2008, Vivanco was expelled from Venezuela. Vivanco had arrived from New York to launch a HRW document on the Venezuelan political system, but he was ordered onto the first flight out of Venezuela together with his deputy, Daniel Wilkinson.

From the Cuban National Reconciliation Profile:

Chilean attorney José Miguel Vivanco studied law at the University of Chile (1979-1983) and the University of Salamanca (1986). In 1990, he received a master's degree in law (LLM) from Harvard University. Between 1986 and 1989, Dr. Vivanco occupied posts, first, as judicial advisor and, later, as attorney for the executive secretariat of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). In 1990, he founded the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and was its executive director until August, 1994. CEJIL is a regional NGO which represents cases of human rights violation before international organizations specializing in these matters (UN and OAS). Since September 1994, he has been the executive director of the Americas division of the Human Rights Watch. Dr. Vivanco is also an associate professor at Georgetown Law School and at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), both in Washington, DC. He has received recognition and fellowships for his work on human rights. He has published numerous articles and has given lectures in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.