The Russian list: the numbers

For all that is worth Tal Cual reminds us this morning in its front page the numbers of the Russian list, that list that is unconstitutional and designed to remove notable opposition candidates from running for office (see here, here, here and here for details if at this point you have no idea of the hottest debate within the opposition blogosphere in months).

• The list carries 400+ names.
• Of this 80%+ are opposition names who supposedly have perpetrated some corruption or mismanagement crime that has yet to reach any court of justice (the famous article 42 to ensure truly due prohibition from running for office).
• Yet, this 20%- of chavista in the list are issued from the people who truly have access to the oil manna: they come from 21 out of 23 state houses, almost 3/4 of the town halls, and mostly from a public administration that has ballooned under Chavez to nearly twice of what it was in 1998 and which includes dozens of misiones, parallel administrations accountable only to Miraflores Palace.

Who are they trying to fool at Russian's office?

Heck, just with the shameless use of public funds for last Sunday pseudo primaries at the PSUV, the 400+ list should double and should include all the candidates that got the nod last Sunday.

If the Russian/Ruffian criteria were to be strictly applied there would be NO candidate come November.

-The end-

Chavez Decree Tightens Hold on Intelligence

This is the title of the New York Times top story today, by Simon Romero.

Every morning I get an e-mail with the top stories of the major US papers. Usually the subject of the E-mail carries the top story of the day according to the editors (most of the time these days it carries the words Obama or Clinton). And to my great surprise, and dread, Venezuela made it to the top front of the New York Times, to subject of the E-mail as well as the top right corner of the print edition. Indeed it is a worthy piece of news, to observe how a government publishes a law decree, without previous consultation with any public sector, not even the National Assembly, a law decree that will transform Venezuela in a nation of informers, just like Cuba.

Because make no mistake: this new decree law is worse than the Patriot Act of the US. If I bring up this last remark it is because the Bush administration Patriot Act is perhaps its most controversial legal action, the one that has damaged the most its popularity over the years. Not for me to discuss the virtues and sins of the Patriot Act here: I want to limit myself to note that the Patriot Act was lengthily discussed, had to be voted and exists in a country where considerable safeguards exists. Not to mention that September 11 did take place and that the US is truly under constant terrorist threat. Maybe there were better ways to enhance US security but the Patriot Act is still under the constant monitoring of an independent judicial system and a strong press, thus many abuses have been corrected.

None of this would hold true for Venezuela as the new decree law goes into practice.

The Romero article is thorough and is a required reading for anyone living outside of Venezuela. Mr. Romero does not need to be condemnatory of the Chavez regime: the facts speak loudly by themselves, Chavez has entered into an era of repression and this new decree is the first of many to come as his political fortunes keep waning. Make no mistake: Chavez was never a democrat, is unable to understand democracy and the concept of checks and balances. If he managed to retain an image of democrat outside of Venezuela it is because his agenda coincided with many grievances of Venezuelan society, and because oil at 1000 USD a barrel allows for the easy correction of many mistakes and the purchase of much good will. But there comes a point where even a barrel at 200 USD will not be enough. That is when the true Chavez comes out, the Cuban controlled Chavez that we are seeing so clearly with thsi new diktat.

To entice you to read this essential article I will post two paragraphs:

The new law requires people in the country to comply with requests to assist the agencies, secret police or community activist groups loyal to Mr. Chávez. Refusal can result in prison terms of two to four years for most people and four to six years for government employees.

“We are before a set of measures that are a threat to all of us,” said Blanca Rosa Mármol de León, a justice on Venezuela’s top court, in a rare public judicial dissent. “I have an obligation to say this, as a citizen and a judge. This is a step toward the creation of a society of informers.”

-The end-

The 2008 election gambles: part 3, Opposition decomposition

We have discussed in the previous 2 posts the motivations of chavismo and Chavez with the electoral strategy they will follow to try to win the November election. Now we can discuss the opposition organization. It is fitting that I discuss them last because after ten years of chavismo they are still defined by a reaction to chavismo actions, not really by their proposals. Some will argue that this explains a lot of the weakness of this one and I will agree at least up to a point. Let's see first who comprises the political opposition in this eve of November: the political parties, the student movement and the people of foot.

The political parities situation in Venezuela.

The primary process

There is nothing better than local elections to see politicians crawl from under the rocks they were hiding for years. No other election in third world countries offers the possibility for a politician to get its own pay check without depending of the good will of the higher authorities elected through a parliament or presidential vote. Now it is the chance for many mediocrities to try to carve for themselves a tiny quota of power. The only surprising thing here is that actually so many people still seem to believe that under the Chavez regime being the governor or the mayor of some area actually implies some power. Besides Zulia and a couple of other states who manage to have real income, no matter who elected you , you depend in large part on Caracas charity. If you do not think so ask Morel Rodriguez, Nueva Esparta sole opposition governor outside of Zulia. Contrary to Rosales who leads the main Venezuelan state, he must rely a lot on chavista indulgence and strange dealings to preside over his battered island economy.

Now after 4 years of chavista mismanagement many politicians who feared their career over believe that they smell blood and are making a run for it. Even though the main parties of the opposition have agreed a few months ago that they will endeavor to have single candidates in every district, too many think that they can get the nod, or even the election, on their own merits. Maybe, but pollsters are very stern on this: almost everywhere the chances of victory for an opposition candidate will depend on the unity. They also point out that even established local figures who are perceived as purposefully breaking unity will be severely castigated at the polls.

Realistically there are not 20 districts in Venezuela where the opposition could run two candidates and still win without much trouble. Caracas has three, Miranda one, Carabobo maybe 2, maybe half a dozen in the Andes area, and another half to a dozen in the rest of the country. I doubt that even Zulia, today a so called bastion of the opposition, has any district where the opposition can run two candidates without worrying about chavismo. In other words there are not 10% of Venezuelan districts that can run more than one opposition candidate. Whomever thinks otherwise is either delusional or secretly sponsored by Chavez machinery. Obviously with so few safe districts there is no safe state house: nowhere could the opposition run more than one serious contender for governor (1).

An yet in spite of this clearly negative situation we observe two phenomenons: in some districts the "primary" battles of the opposition are becoming nasty enough that they could end up in a division of sorts, AND the opposition runs this campaign as if we were in any democratic country, with fair umpires to monitor all over, with real prospects to make local changes independently of what happens in Miraflores Palace.

In all fairness the "primary" campaign has been working better than expected. The dead line for each party to select its own candidate for any district has been sort of met with a few glaring exceptions such as Chacao, where even if three opposition candidates were to run chavismo would still have zero chances. Unfortunately the mediatization of the Chacao conflict risks to influence other minor disputes and could escalate them. Now, June brings us the deadlines for each party to solve its general opposition "primary" disputes through polls. I have the feeling that this is not going so well as in general we do not know which pollsters will be chosen and if indeed the opposition can afford the huge amount of polls, and expenses, that are required to have a "trustworthy" result that all will abide for. Again, I think that a general primary would have been much better, and should have been already held, putting to shame the fake PSUV primary of last Sunday where vote counts will not be necessarily announced and where too many candidates will be decided by Chavez alone.

The uninspiring political opposition

The process has at least brought a benefit: everywhere the discussion within the opposition have appeared in a very favorable light for public opinion even as some of the diehard abstentions criticize the process and its multiple choices. It seems that there is a general disposition, a general motivation of the population to get involved, to participate. Chavismo delays, coupled with an extremely short primary season where "candidates" did not have a chance to advance their opinions and combined to a rigid electoral rule are not very promising or exciting.

It is fortunate that the primary process of the opposition so far as evolved positively because it has served to mask the major deficiency of the opposition: its unwillingness to tackle the dangerous reality of Venezuela as Chavez is trying to impose his political project in spite of his loss last December. This blogger includes himself in the list of those who look with astonishment the major opposition candidate talk exclusively of potholes needing to be fixed. True, that is what local elections are about, to propose ways to solve local problems. But what is almost unforgivable is that so few of them find the time to denounce what is going on in the country. Maybe I am missing something, maybe I am not aware of secret polls which indicate that the pothole plank is the best way or only way, but I have my doubts as to the effectiveness. Many people could become disheartened about this silence when an election is always an opportunity to vent off all what is wrong in country, even if the priority accorded to some themes are different according to the stake of the election. The risk the opposition is running is that many will stay home because they find out that pothole solving is not solving milk scarcity.

Perhaps once could make an excuse as to not wanting to discuss Chavez involvement with the FARC (which I think is an error as we could do a lot of red baiting in some areas). Perhaps one could understand a reticence at discussing corruption, moral and political, at national level (though at least it is discussed at local level, uselessly as many are subjected to term limits). But one cannot understand that the opposition is not picking up the banner of regional autonomy, the accusation of increasing centralization which is already affecting negatively our quality of life at local levels. Are the opposition candidates so afraid of Chavez accusing them at some point of trying to break up the country? Are they so unable to articulate their love to country? I have a hard time to motivate myself to vote for a candidate that promises at best to work with what crumbs Caracas offers and not to fight to get all what Caracas owes us.

The political opposition sin

But what seems the gravest for the future chances of the political opposition to unseat someday Chavez and chavismo is that they are not learning. That opposition politicians are very creative at offering how to fix potholes is used to hide their lack of creativity at finding ideas on how to face chavismo. With the Venezuelan barrel now above 100 USD there is little that you can do against a shamelessly populist government: we should be happy that they will pick up efficiently the garbage for 4 years. Should we settle for that?

What is scary about how the political opposition is running its campaign is that it thinks that the result of December 2007 will translate automatically comes November. Clearly the opposition after ten years does not seem aware of who they have in front of him, of what this Chavez guy is capable of to cling to power. The illegal barring of opposition candidates? Who cares, let's put other ones, we will win anyway. The resurgent totalitarian project in spite of the December rejection? Nah, it will not happen, Chavez is leaving in 2012 anyway, we'll fix that then. That the new governors will not have a way to deal with a National Assembly that will rob them of all what they can get away with it? Not a word! Apparently manna will fall from heavens. That the CNE could rob the opposition of at least a couple of dozen of town halls and 2 to 4 state houses? Let's not discourage voters!

The political opposition clearly does not seem to understand that it did not win the 2007 referendum: it was Chavez who lost it by failing to motivate his people to vote for the constitutional change. The results are clear: if the opposition improved slightly its total from December 2006, it is solely due to many former chavista voters saying NO then. The opposition also suffered of abstention. There is absolutely no guarantee that these folks will vote against Chavez again. There is no certainty that they will vote for an opposition candidate, the more so the political opposition takes them for granted and minimizes the current legal offensive of chavismo to counter the December defeat. You do not get chavistas to vote for you offering to fix potholes: they know better than anyone else know that potholes will be fixed only when Chavez decides to fix them.

But there are still 4 full months of campaign ahead of us and in politics 4 months are an era. We shall see if this thing perks up some.

The student movement

The student movement that did so much to effect the Chavez loss last December has been rather quiescent. True, a lot of its leaders graduated and thus cannot be considered still as student leaders. But that is not the problem: the problem is how quickly some of the main leaders found their way inside some political parties, one of them even running at 27 for Caracas mayor. True, anyone almost can do better than infamous Bernal who had the nerve to claim that Downtown Caracas will soon look like Paris, but still...

UNT seems to have been the main beneficiary of the student rush to official politics. Its avowed social democrat orientation? But fortunately some have realized that waiting for a year or two before running for any office might not be such a bad idea. Thus Yon Goicochea announced that he would go to graduate school and to manage a political fund he will set with the Friedman prize money he got, thus remaining a credible student leader. But for all practical purposes the brilliant generation that elated us through 2007 is gone and the new one is not peeking out yet. Will it? Possibly, but we need to wait a crisis to see that, and local elections are not the best scenario to highlight a powerful student movement (2).

At least whatever student movement exists maintains activity and launched its first big rally of the year, reaching the National Assembly to protest against the possible extension of the enabling law. It is to be hoped that as the content as the new laws, such the one forcing you to rat on your neighbors, come to the forefront the student movement might be reborn enough to supply the political opposition relative emptiness of emotion.

The civil society.

Since the political opposition is not representing yet the core interests and worries of the population, as it cannot come up with any strategy to fight Chavez back, as the students can only do so much, we are again looking from inside the population for means of resistance. I use resistance deliberately because this is what we are reduced to as Chavez undaunted by his clear defeat of December is still trying by illegal ways to push his socialo-communist agenda. So, how does Venezuelan society articulates.

The self styled Chavez protesters. The phenomenon that we saw becoming increasingly vocal through 2007 keeps growing: they are the "lower" classes who are supposedly getting the benefits of the revolution. Well, more and more of them are unhappy and growing protests are interrupting our daily lives. The favorite action is to block for hours a main highway causing traffic total collapse of an area. Usually they always ask for Chavez to come, or to send someone because the people that he named are betraying the revolution. They claim loud that they are with Chavez all the way to the end. But you sense that they not only could well stay home again next November, or worse, vote against Chavez since this one is not directly on the ballot even if he pretends to be. And for them pothole fixing might not be such a bad idea to blackmail Chavez.

The opposition hoi poloi. It is rather quiet so far. however it is getting used to show up when it matters such as when the escualidos that live around La Carlota stopped, for the time being, the take over of the airport to build housing for pro Chavez supporter instead of the park for Caracas promised by Chavez. They also seem to be showing up to the "debates" between the different "primary" candidates of the opposition. I have received reports that the candidates that do not show up are promptly booed (and probably forfeit any chance to win in that district). We can only welcome this phenomenon that shows that people are starting to understand that they will only get rid of Chavez is they start working at it. Let's hope that the wave keeps rising until November and force the political opposition to shape up.

NGOs. The well know NGO such as SUMATE are increasingly silent. But that should not distract form the fact that new ones are forming such as the recent group to defend the December 2 result. Formed by citizens, newspapers, scientists and the like, they are trying to organize themselves to create a civil front that will try to counter the sneaky laws that today chavismo is advancing. And we can be pretty sure that recent measures such as the Rat Promotion Law will stir up existing groups or generate new ones.

Is there an electoral strategy for the opposition?

The problem here is twofold: the political opposition is woefully disadvantaged and it has been unable to repair its self inflicted wounds.

The first thing to recognize if one wants to be fair with the political opposition is to measure the huge advantages that chavismo has, from resources to all the legal levels of the country. If to this you add that everyday it becomes clearer that political opposition leaders will need to risk their skin to bring back real democracy and legality in Venezuela you can understand the reluctance of many of them to discuss what needs to be discussed.

Yet this does not excuse the self inflicted wounds of the political opposition which keeps a deep credibility problem among the people they are supposed to represent. If it all started with the inner contradictions that appeared in August 16 2004 when we were left wondering whether there was fraud or not in the Recall Election. But since then more mistakes happened trumping even stunning victories such as the massive abstention of 2005: no plan to contest the legitimacy of the new National Assembly and thus this one has been dictating awful laws for two years... Looking back, if they were not willing to hit the streets to refuse to recognize the new National Assembly they might as well should have gone on voting.

Thus we have now a weird campaign where the political opposition goes through the moves and where we pretend to follow them and support them. But the fragility of the construct is a reality and any missteps can make too many voters decide to stay home in November. Since I do not see any general strategy of the opposition except a plea for unity to get at least real pot holes fixers I will suggest some simple themes that should be delicately hammered through the campaigns, themes strong enough to inspire people, but weak enough to attract a few chavistas to secure your victory.

Defend decentralization. Embrace decentralization and underline at every campaign stop that all decisions depend more and more from Caracas, from people named by Chavez and not from local authorities. Do not worry about chavista communal councils: there is little you can say to convince them otherwise, though many people unhappy about their ways will on their own support you. Besides these councils are probably prey of internal fights because their natural leaders did not make it to the PSUV electoral lists. Go as far as to say that if you are elected at least Chavez will have to name its best elements to counter your actions (look at how well Maracaibo looks these days through the uneasy cohabitation of Rosales and Di Martino). The glorification of crossover voting so dear to many Venezuelans can only help you.

The referendum was lost by Chavez. Repeat this all the time and shamelessly state that you will defend the present constitution that can only be changed through a constitutional assembly that is supported by all without exception. Meanwhile, assert that you do not agree with some of its provisions but you will obey it contrary to Chavez who is violating it these days. Still be light on that one, always like an after thought, just to demonstrate that you have more tan just a parochial vision.

Chavez is in Caracas until 2012. Say that you voted against Chavez but that you recognized his victory. And thus folks should vote for you because that way they will get the best of both worlds: populism from Caracas and pothole fixing from your local mayor. Never show that you have a national plan, never promise a recall election on Chavez: you only want what is better for your area and protect it from Caracas abuses. This can even work in Caracas, the most abused city in Venezuela.

Recall Election for the National Assembly representatives. This is for those who are running for governor. When you are in luck and a given audience is receptive, offer to support a recall election on the local National Assembly representatives if you win. Say that you will not promote one against Chavez because he is gone in 2012, but say that if you win the ones currently sitting for your state in Caracas will sabotage you. It is risky but it is worth the risk because you could get two bonus for this risk: 1) of course if you win you will have a mandate to get rid of the lousy National Assembly leeches that will effectively sabotage you and 2) you motivate your base to vote for you promising them a national action without antagonizing possible pro Chavez cross over voters (they might even be equally pissed at their representatives than the anti Chavez voters!).

Whatever position an opposition candidate runs for if s/he manages to include at least two of the above to his pothole fixing plank s/he will greatly increase the chances to get voted in because this is the only way to really motivate opposition 'abstentionist' not to stay home. Or put in other words, there is not enough chavista votes that could be ganied to compensate what the opposition politicians will lose if they fail to motivate their own base on election day.

And for the next and last post of this series, this blogger will boldly throw his first predictions.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

1) That also is true for chavismo. However chavismo today is assured of winning without any problem at least a third of town halls, even if they were to run more than one candidate, which will not happen unless the "dissident" runs the risk of become even more grievously insulted than the expected opposition candidate.

2) The chavista student movement is reduced to nothing. As regular universities keep holding elections and chavismo accumulating defeat after defeat, there is no election at the UBV and other such chavista centers where "consensus" "camaraderie" "revolutionary spirit" maintain the pseudo students that were promoted by chavismo in 2007. Since then there has been no new blood. The ones that were presented then are now appearing just as any chavista politico. Whether chavismo has realized that it was unable to sustain a vigorous student movement and forgot about the issue we do not know, but at least it helps the transition inside the opposition students to run without major trouble.


-The end-

The FARC files, Cuban bloggers, a Super Nova and Yves Saint Laurent

Interesting press review this morning.

Maria Anastasia O'Grady peruses old computer files.

The WSJ through the pen of Maria Anastasia O'Gady starts going deeper into the Reyes Laptop files. that is, beyond the infamous first page attention grabbing pages, she starts looking at what all these files actually mean, what they do reflect about the long terms goal of the FARC. Her major conclusion of interest for readers of this blog is that indeed Chavez is deeply involved in sustaining the FARC sagging fortunes and deeply committed to overthrow the Colombian government. No surprise here, but now we red it in a cold and dispassionate article that ends with this perfect line:

In other words, there is no peace agenda. Only plans for a circus designed to undermine Colombia's democracy. The rest of the region's governments ought to worry about who is next.

Now, if we had in Venezuela a truly brave press, such article should be immediately translated and published front page to challenge the new fascist "patriot" law Venezuelan style. We'll see.

Alek Boyd returns from a Cuban not-vacation

Alek Boyd of Vcrisis fame is successfully reinventing himself. Last time we heard of him he had left London for sunny Spain while silly PSF working for "red" Ken, the infamous London mayor and Chavez agent would have liked us to believe that Alek was running away, scared by them on some judicial pretense. Amen of the failure of Red Ken to recover his seat in London which means that many of these sycophants such as Calvin Tucker are out of a subsidy and will need to find new ways to make a honest living. And to add insult to injury on these people, we see that Alek is coming back strong. He has understood one thing, that Vcrisis did go as far it could go in its anti Chavez crusade and that after the closing of RCTV and the FARC debacle he has little to say anymore: the whole world knows the truth on Chavez and Alek helped a lot. As far as Alek was concerned his job was done and he needed to explore new horizons. Thus Alek is becoming some sort of international human rights agent. His latest mission brings him to Cuba from where he brought us an interview with noted and award recipient Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez.

It seems that Alek has a future whereas the PSF sycophants do not not. Then again we all knew where the creative forces have all been all the time.

Yves Saint-Laurent is dead

After a long illness Yves Saint Laurent died this week end at 71. This might be weird for readers to read coming from me, but I was raised during the high years of Yves Saint Laurent and of all the "couture" folks he is the only one that I sort of followed through the years, not to mention that I often use Opium for men. Besides, I cannot always write about Venezuela and Chavez, no?

A Super Nova for you

It is unfortunately too rare that a scientific event makes it to the editorial section of a newspaper. Today we are in luck as the New York Times tells us about the first Supernova caught live, and the scientist that I am is elated, no better way to start a week for me than a good science report. So finally we see the hard proof of what all scientists knew long ago. It is nice and it is once again an illustration on how science works (and what a cooperative effort it is in the end as there are 42 names associated with the published Nature article). I wonder what creationists and other intelligent design folks are going to do with that information. Probably the same as PSF do: duck their head under the sand. Because PSF are like these creationist: we keep feeding them all the information on how the economic policies of Chavez will fail in the long run, on why he is just a terrorist, and yet, faced with FARC files and a rampant inflation they still come up with faith arguments. Birds of a feather.


-The end-

Katy; you are the one who is wrong

This is a very unusual post and I had to think before going ahead with it.

There has been a significant debate in the opposition blogosphere based on a translation of an OpEd of Father Ugalde that I posted here. The debate for some reason moved to Miguel and Katy's respective blogs, probably because I have comment moderation and when a topic is burning people want instant gratification. But the debate is so serious that I feel obliged to publish this response sent to me by Mousqueton, a long time reader and an exquisitely through analyst of some of the legal stuff that was involved last year with the discussion of the Constitutional reform that failed. People just need to visit these excellent articles here.

Now, I know Katy and I consider myself a friend of her. And I am also very aware of the organization work that she participates here in Venezuela, sacrificing part of her rare vacations, which means that I understand her sensibility to some of the stuff that Father Ugalde wrote. Thus my initial hesitation at accepting this very unusual request from a reader. But Mousqueton has the credentials, the debate is important and I am sure that Katy will be able to defend herself very well. Also by publishing it here I avoid Katy and Mousqueton the embarrassment of deciding whether this criticism should be published at Caracas Chronicles or not. The following post and the title of post are from Mousqueton.

--- --- --- ---

Katy; you are the one who is wrong

I have read your post in Caracas Chronicles with regard to the recently published article by Father Luis Ugalde. I must say that, like you, I am also disappointed but not at the concepts expressed by father Ugalde but at the lack of thoroughness of your legal analysis.

Indeed article # 39 of the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999 reads as follow:

“Article 39: Venezuelans who are not subject to political disablement or civil interdiction, and meet the age requirements provided for in this Constitution, can exercise citizenship and therefore are entitled to political rights and duties in accordance to this Constitution.”

What is wrong though is that based on this article and without further research you conclude and declare in your posting that “Right off the bat, the Constitution is saying that political rights and obligations are inherent to all citizens that have not been disqualified for some reason.”

Further, you go ahead and give credit to articles 102 though 108 of the General Comptrollers Law to conclude that there is a reasonable doubt about the constitutionality or not of the Russian decision.

The condition of “Political Disablement” and “Civil Interdiction” are not political terms subject to interpretation. They are legal terms and are expressly defined in the Venezuelan Penal Code as well as the Venezuelan Civil Code.

Title X, Chapter 1 (Of the Interdiction), Articles 393 through 407 of the Venezuelan Civil Code indicates that adults and emancipated minors can be subject to interdiction by reason of intellectual defect. This is called Judicial Interdiction and it is a judicial process which is explained and ruled throughout those articles. Article 408 also acknowledges what is known as Legal or Civil Interdiction which is a consequence of being subject to a penal sentence.

“Civil Interdiction” and “Political Disablement” are both typified penalties of the Venezuelan Penal Code and are thoroughly explained under Title II, Articles 8 through 36.

Article 10 defines both “Civil Interdiction” and “Political Disablement” as non corporeal penalties. Article 11 indicates that penalties can also be divided in “principal” and “accessorial” were principal penalties are punishment for the crime and accessorial penalties are additional penalties brought up by the law.

Article 13 indicates that both “Civil Interdiction” and “Political Disablement” are accessorial penalties to the principal sentence of “Presidium” (forced labor). Article 16 in turn indicates that “Political Disablement” is an accessorial penalty to the principal sentence of “Prison” (confinement without hard labor).

Article 23 indicates that the penalty of “Civil Interdiction” can not be imposed as a principal sentence but exclusively as an accessorial sentence to the penalty of “Presidium”. Article 24 indicates as well that the penalty of “Political Disablement” can not be imposed as a principal sentence but exclusively as an accessorial sentence to the penalties of “Presidium” and “Prison”.

I hope I am not going too fast for you and that by now you have realized that both the penalties of “Presidium” and “Prison” can only be sanctioned by a judge, in a court of law and after a trial. Also, I hope you have realized by now that no one can be sentenced to ”Civil Interdiction” and/or “Political Disablement” unless they have been previously sentenced to “Presidium” or “Prison”.

That is why article 42 of the Bolivarian Constitution reinstates that the “political rights can be suspended only by final judicial decision in the cases provided by law.” Not any law or even the constitution but the Venezuelan Penal and Civil Codes. That is also why it mentions “final judicial decision” because under the Venezuelan Civil Code judges can sanction provisional judicial interdiction while hearing the case.

The Bolivarian Constitution indicates other cases in which political rights are partially curtailed but it is very careful not to use the typified legal terms “Political Disablement” and/or “Civil Interdiction”.

Article # 65 of the Bolivarian Constitution indicates that “Persons who have been convicted of crimes committed while holding office or other offenses against public property, shall be ineligible to run for any office filled by popular vote…”

The Constitution is clear here in stating that in order for this ineligibility to apply the person has to be “convicted” and this can only be done by a judge, in a court of law and after a trial. It is interesting to note that under this constitutional article the ineligibility applies if the crime was committed while holding office (elected office) even if the person is sentenced by a court of law to a lighter penalty than “Presidium” or “Prison” which are the only two penalties that bring about mandatory “Political Disablement” and/or “Civil Interdiction”.

So, we are left only with the provisions of the so called Organic Law of the Comptroller's Office and your wrong interpretation of articles 102 through 108 of this organic law.

According to law, the Comptroller only has competency to hear administrative cases within the “public administration”. He can only apply penalties for violations to the Code of Administrative Procedures to those who exercise a public function. This is, to those who work as civil servants or employees in the public administration.

He can impose penalties such as fines, temporary suspension from the job without pay and destitution from the position held in the public administration. He can also ban (inhabilitar) a public servant from holding a public administration position or public function job for up to 15 years (article 105 of the Organic Law of the Comptrollers Office) but he can certainly not curtail, limit and/or strip away their constitutional rights.

The lack of power of the comptroller to hear and/or act on matters that are beyond the administrative and tributary levels is clearly stated in Title V, Chapter IV, Section Four, Article 289, Item 4 of the Bolivarian Constitution which states that it is a function of the National Comptroller “To call on the General Prosecutor of the Republic to file the appropriate legal actions with regard to in actions and crimes committed against public patrimony, of which becomes aware in the course of performing his official functions.” Further this function is reinstated in article 85 of the Organic Law of the Comptroller's Office.

Elective positions are not “public function” positions and hence the Comptroller has absolutely no power to ban any citizen including public servants from exercising their constitutional right to run for any elective position. He can ban them from working for the government (“public function”) but he can not ban them from exercising their constitutional rights. Only the courts of law can do that.

The Bolivarian Constitution in Title IV, Chapter 1, Section Third (of the public function), Articles 144 through 149 clearly explains what the “public function” is and there is not a single word and/or reference in any of the articles in the sense that elective positions are in any way part of the “public function”. This, rightly so I must add, because elected officials are only subject to the judicial power and the people.

What the General Comptroller has done by banning 400 citizens from running for elective office is without a single shred of doubt or question a gross, illegal and unconstitutional abuse and deviation of power for which he is personally liable under Title IV, Chapter I, section One, article 139 of the Bolivarian Constitution.

Father Ugalde’s statement in this sense is not only absolutely right but further, completely uncontroversial and non questionable. He is also right when he says that the political parties are doing nothing about it.

I believe Katy, that you owe an apology to Father Ugalde.

Best regards; Mousqueton


-The end-

Fast forward to the Chavez totalitarian state

I have been so busy this week that it is Sunday night and I have not been able yet to write on the new fascist law published last week by the Chavez government. I need to read it in detail and make my report on the matter. Right now what strikes me the most is that it establishes tattling, denunciation by your neighbor as a mandatory activity. For example this blogger who has written repeatedly that the Venezuelan army was in no shape to face war with Colombia is betraying national interests and thus as of now anyone who know shim is under the obligation to going to the authorities and denounce me from divulging opinions that could be used against Venezuela by a foreign power.

Right now there is the editorial of Veneconomia of last Friday which will give you a quick overlook. I predict lot of trouble ahead.

--- --- --- --- --- ---

SINful absence of the rule of law


This week, the Chávez administration dealt a mortal blow to the rule of law in Venezuela and armor-plated its totalitarian regime with the enactment of the Decree-Law on the National Intelligence and Counterintelligence System.

The problem is that this law does not just change the names of or eliminate the Military Intelligence Directorate (DIM) and the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP).

Nor is it as simple as creating a National Intelligence System (SIN after its initials in Spanish) that will be managed at discretion and with no restrictions by Hugo Chávez; or that this SIN will act like the Gestapo in the days of Adolph Hitler, against anyone who processes or has access to information that may be arbitrarily classified as “confidential,” “secret” or “of strategic interest” to the State.

It is not even merely that this is yet another unconstitutional law, of the many that Hugo Chávez with his special powers has cobbled together on the spur of the moment and behind the backs of the people.

What this is really all about is that this decree-law, published in Official Gazette this Wednesday (May 28), is a lethal weapon that will stifle the rule of law and the citizen’s most elementary civil, political, economic, and social rights. All of these rights, from now on, come under the absolute control of Big Brother, who today goes by the name of Hugo Chávez.

With this decree-law, the Executive (read Hugo Chávez) assumes the “sole power” to search for, process, and divulge information on issues classified as strategic, of economic and geopolitical interest for the country or that might affect “the stability of the democratic institutions and the constitutional order.”

This, in the times of Chávez, could mean anything: from the seizure of a briefcase full of dollars from a public official who is a friend of the regime, to the information on the computer of narco-terrorist Raúl Reyes, to the increasingly opaque balance sheets of PDVSA, INE indicators or the delayed figures of the Central Bank.

Below are the aspects that pose most danger for Venezuelans as regards the exercising their democratic rights and freedoms:
1) It denies all Venezuelans the right to information by forbidding and criminalizing the divulging of information arbitrarily labeled “confidential” or “secret” by some government official.
2) The powers of the new intelligence agencies (i.e. Chávez) are broad, generic, and undefined, which gives more discretionary power to the officers of this new corps.
3) Anyone can be detained without just cause, a court order or the presence of a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
4) Evidence will be kept secret, which means that the right of the person who has been detained to due process is violated as well as the minimum guarantees that entitle him to have access to the evidence that is being used against him.
5) Nor will the person who is arrested be given the opportunity for legitimate defense in a manner that is just, fair, and timely. According to this law, the opportunity to defend himself will come later, if at all. Definitely, this is a new weapon to eliminate dissidence.


-The end-

The PSUV primary election, from ground zero

[updated]

Long time readers will remember that I live next to a polling station and that on election days I am awakened by the noise of people standing in line. To my great surprise today my slumber was cut short at 8 AM when I heard two women fighting in the street. My next door school had been chosen as a PSUV voting center! Even though Chavez always loses by almost 2 to 1 in this school.

So I decided to postpone my Sunday coffee and observe for a little bit. The first surprise is that there was a line. Yes, a line! On a first regard it is not that surprising considering that only a few voting centers are open so that chavistas are concentrated in a few schools. But then again I noticed one thing: the line comprised about 2-3 dozen people and was moving very slowly: the door opened only once in a while to let enter one person at a time. It looks like the voting act lasts almost 5 minutes! Much slower than normal election time!!!

The line failed to grow longer because simply few people were arriving. The other detail is the amount of people arriving by cab among these few. In normal election my neighbors arrive walking. True, a few arrive by car but the huge majority come walking as this is a urban area voting center, a long time established one and thus the registered voters live mostly within 500 yards.

And there was also something else. You know, when you have been living in an area for years, even if you do not know the people you get a sense of your home crowd. Well, the "crowd" I saw this morning, they do not look like my neighbors. I know it is not very PC to write this but I cannot help it. I do not live in any ritzy area of San Felipe, this is middle to lower middle class, and area which is also plagued with buhoneros and crime. So yes, it is a subjective observation but it is one nevertheless. At least when my neighbors vote I do not hear cat fights at 8 AM!!! Not to mention that there were several militia in uniform ensuring public order, rather disquieting if you ask me as it is the first time I see so many of these guys in my neighborhood. Somehow I am missing the Nazional Guard/Army that ensures the service in normal elections...

I wonder if they are having folks from the 23 de Enero voting in Chacao....

Any interpretation? Oh yeah! It is all choreographed to make folks believe that there is a huge turnout, even in areas where chavistas are in clear minority. There is a turnout alright, but it is far from huge. And looking at the fight between the two chavista supporter, it will not settle the internal PSUV issues.

There might or there might not be an update on this as I have done on previous elections. I can be bothered only so much by chavista propaganda and their farcical primary. I suspect that many chavistas have become quite insensible to it too....

Update: well, one is a consistent blogger or one is not one and thus I must update an electoral post. There are right now more cars parked in my street that during any week days or even for church services at Easter, the only time cars crawl up my street on a Sunday. Clearly, my neighbors are a minority in that voting station.

It seems that many chavistas have decided to hang out and wait (which also explains the number of cars parked). Many remained, sitting down on the shaded part of the street, waiting for who knows what. We even had a "cepillado" cart that moved in front of the voting station (the guy usually does church mass). There is also a couple of buhoneros selling coffee and "drinks" that hang around (which they do not do on election day).

But it all good natured, at least so far. When I came back from getting my papers, there was one of the PSUVistas chatting amiably with another one with a copy of El Universal tucked under his armpit. Though EL Universal banner page was close to his body... VEA? I did not see any nor any peddler selling them :) Clearly the hard core militancy that Chavez would love us to believe is not as hard core when you get further from the inner circles of power.

-The end-