Thor Halvorssen

Thor Leonardo Halvorssen Mendoza (born 1976; ) is a Venezuelan human rights advocate and film producer with contributions in the field of public policy.

Halvorssen is founder of the annual Oslo Freedom Forum and president of the Human Rights Foundation, an organization that states their mission as to promote freedom against authoritarian regimes.

In 1989, then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez appointed Halvorssen Sr. as Venezuela's "anti-drug ambassador".

When Halvorssen was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1993, his father was arrested after a series of bombings around the capital.

It was named the 'yuppie' terrorists plot because its planners were allegedly bankers and other gilded elite who hoped that the panic caused by the bombs would help them speculate on the stock market." His father was working on money laundering cases in the public service and said, Colombian drug traffickers framed the crime on him. His father was beaten during his 74-day incarceration in a Caracas jail. Halvorssen helped the campaign of Amnesty International and other organizations that pressured the Venezuelan authorities to free his father. Halvorssen was eventually found not guilty of all charges. After his release the International Society for Human Rights appointed him director of their Pan-American Committee.

In 1999, Halvorssen became the first executive director and chief executive officer of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a U.S. civil liberties organization.

As head of FIRE, Halvorssen formed beside with more traditional free speech defenders such as the ACLU also coalitions with advocacy organizations like The Heritage Foundation, Feminists for Free Expression and the Eagle Forum.

In 2001, Halvorssen stated that, "Liberty of opinion, speech, and expression is indispensable to a free and, in the deepest sense, progressive society. Deny it to one, and you deny it effectively to all. These truths long have been ignored and betrayed on our campuses, to the peril of a free society."

In a 2003 moderated chat, he said, "History has taught us that a society that does not respect individual rights, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech will not long survive as a free society in any form."

While attending a peaceful protest of the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004, Halvorssen's mother, Hilda Mendoza Denham, a British subject, was wounded by a gunshot.

Images of government supporters firing upon the demonstrators were captured by a live television broadcast.

The gunmen were later apprehended, tried, had their sentences revoked, tried again, found guilty, and received 3-year sentences for murder and for bodily harm.

They were released after serving six months in prison.

Halvorssen has lectured on the subject of human rights including at Harvard Law School, the New York City Junto, the United Nations Association in New York, and the American Enterprise Institute.

Halvorssen has also spoken at the British parliament for the Henry Jackson Society.

Halvorssen testified to the U.S. Congress that he was the target of a smear campaign by Fusion GPS.

Halvorssen stepped down as head of FIRE in March 2004 to join its Board of Advisors and announced the creation of the international group Human Rights Foundation.

HRF was incorporated in 2005, opening its headquarters in New York City in August 2006.

The chairman is Garry Kasparov.

2005 he was also a founder of the Moving Picture Institute.

At the helm of HRF Halvorssen has repeatedly lobbied and advocated for the release of Chinese political prisoner Liu Xiaobo.

Halvorssen bought the Norwegian news magazine Ny Tid in May 2010.

Halvorssen has appeared on television outlets such as Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and CNN.

He was a speaker at TEDx at the University of Pennsylvania in October 2010.

Halvorssen was born in Venezuela to Hilda Mendoza, a descendant and a relative, respectively, of Venezuela's first president Cristóbal Mendoza and liberator Simón Bolívar.

His father is Thor Halvorssen Hellum, who served as a Venezuelan Ambassador for anti-Narcotic Affairs in the administration of Carlos Andrés Pérez and as special overseas investigator of a Venezuelan Senate Commission.

His family was prosperous and on his father's side he is the grandson of Øystein Halvorssen, who served as Norway's honorary consul-general in Caracas and who "built a family dynasty as the Venezuelan representative for corporations including Dunlop, Alfa Laval and Ericsson."

In 2010 Halvorssen was special guest of Liu Xiaobo at the Nobel Prize ceremony awarding the prize to Liu Xiaobo in absentia.

Halvorssen is identified as a supporter of Chinese Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer and has sharply criticized the Taiwanese Kuomintang government for its banning visits by Kadeer.

Halvorssen has supported UN-level action to address the violations of Uyghur rights in China.

Halvorssen was part of a symposium by the American conservative magazine National Review to praise Augusto Pinochet, where Halvorssen was the only one also pointing out his human rights abuses.

Halvorssen has criticised several celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Erykah Baduh and Mariah Carey for accepting payments for their performances in countries governed by authoritarian leaders like Russia.

Halvorssen appears as a frequent critic of Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni and, in particular, the legislative efforts in Uganda to punish homosexuality with the death penalty.

Halvorssen is a critic of Hugo Chávez, and has written on Venezuela’s anti-Semitism and the assault on democracy and individual rights in Latin America.

Halvorssen's criticisms have also been directed at U.S. Republicans such as Jack Kemp as well as Democrats including John Conyers and Jose Serrano.

Halvorssen led a campaign to expose Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov’s human rights violations and ultimately created a firestorm for Hollywood actress Hilary Swank after she accepted a cash payment to celebrate Kadyrov’s birthday.

His cousin is Leopoldo Lopez, a Venezuelan politician who helped organize the 2014 Venezuelan protests.

Halvorssen attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with concurrent undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science and history.

Halvorssen's father, also named Thor Halvorssen, was a wealthy businessman who was named the CEO of Venezuela's state TV CANTV.

Halvorssen provided testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2017.