Alejandro Plaz

Alejandro Plaz Castillo is a founder of the Venezuelan volunteer civil association, "Súmate".

Plaz is a Venezuelan engineer and management consultant, who holds three Master’s degrees (two from Stanford University), and was a Senior partner for McKinsey & Company in Latin America, before taking a leave of absence to co-found "Súmate" with María Corina Machado.

Plaz and other members of "Súmate" were charged with treason and conspiracy for receiving a $31,000 grant from the National Endowment for Democracy which, according to the United States Department of State, was "aimed at strengthening citizen participation in the democratic, constitutional processes of their country". [Embassy of the United States, Venezuela (8 July 2005). [http://web.archive.org/web/20070310164342/http://caracas.usembassy.gov/wwwh2678.html "Súmate Trial Decision".] Accessed 18 June 2006.] The trial has been postponed several times.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.sumate.org/ Official Súmate website]
* [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/07/08/venezu11299.htm Human Rights Watch statement on trial of Súmate founders]
* [http://www.wmd.org/democracyalerts/july1504.html Democracy Activists in Venezuela Threatened]
* [http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/hearings/2004/hrg040624p.html The State of Democracy in Venezuela,] United States Senate hearings before the Committee on foreign relations.
*U.S. Department of State, [http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/57714.pdf The State of Democracy in Venezuela,] 1 December 2005.
* [http://www.soberania.org/Articulos/articulo_1073.htm Plaz bio]