Hugo Chavez in Miraflores Palace. ( Photo: Seb ) On the eve of the inauguration of the new National Assembly, the incumbents were exceptionally hard and authorized the president to legislate by decree for eighteen months.
For the third time in eleven years, parliament granted the right to Hugo Chávez to legislate by decree. Each time, the opposition parties and the media have denounced these laws called "enabling" as evidence of an authoritarian government. The decrees issued during the first enabling provoked a reaction from the radical opposition and led to the coup of April 11, 2002. This time, the measure comes on the eve of the inauguration of the new National Assembly (Wednesday, 5 January), following the elections on September 26, in which the opposition meeting at the Mesa de Unidad Democrática ( Table of democratic unity), returns (minority) in parliament.
Officially, the enabling legislation granted Venezuelan President on December 17 is "to meet the emergency and crisis" caused by heavy rains and floods that have affected the country in recent weeks, causing the death of thirty-eight people and forcing 130,000 others to abandon their homes across the country. The first decree adopted a week ago by Hugo Chavez is in fact the creation of a fund of 10 billion Bolivars (2.3 billion) for reconstruction of affected areas.
However, the powers of the President extends to other areas such as security and defense, taxation, land use, land use in rural and urban housing, infrastructure, transportation, utilities and international agreements (among others).
The pitfall of the two-thirds
For opponents, there's no doubt: "Chávez cancels Assembly and legislate without control," as the headline in the opposition newspaper recently El Nacional . If he is in no question of dissolving the parliament (which will continue to legislate properly), it is however clear that this will allow the enabling Executive to pass certain laws frames which normally would have needed the support of two thirds of MPs, most of which he will no longer have after January 5.
Yul Jabour, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) and member of the Andean Parliament, confirms this impression. "If it was only to solve the flooding problem, the enabling legislation was not necessary. It is necessary to create instruments (legal, note) that can advance the interests of workers, peasants; to attack the mafia of the construction that have been enriched by speculation, etc.. The VCP supports enabling legislation because we understand the current political situation and the need of the revolutionary forces to advance and, subject, of course, to speak at each order that will follow. "
legislative marathon
Moreover, members of the outgoing majority, dominated largely by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), have engaged in recent weeks in a race against the clock (with a series of sessions Extraordinary parliament) to vote several laws and reforms that have sparked the ire the opposition and even some skepticism within the Chavismo.
One of them is the partial reform of the law on political parties, which now punish MPs who decide to switch sides in the Legislature. The "guilty" and could be dismissed for "voter fraud" defined as "any conduct that deviates from repeated policy and policy positions presented in the platform" of each parliamentary group. Yul Jabour said that the VCP has refused to support the PSUV in approving this reform because he believes that "discipline party is a matter of conscience, not by bureaucratic and administrative decisions that can ensure a political position. "
Universities anticapitalist
Other laws approved late December is a legislative package including the popular power, forum for promoting community participation in public management. More controversial, a law called "defense of political sovereignty" prohibits the financing of NGOs or political parties by organizations Foreign.
But this is probably the reform of legislation on universities (1) who will do the most noise in the coming days, with an expected mobilization at the beginning of the student opposition movement . The new law places on equal footing teachers, students and workers, and states that he intended to "strengthen the link between education and creative work emancipating and liberating, as the basis for training programs that contribute to the excess of the capitalist model alienating its modes of authoritarian leadership, social relationships exploitation, the social division of labor and unequal distribution of wealth. "Unacceptable for academic elite, so far entrenched in its strongholds in the guise of university autonomy.
Note :
(1) At the time of publishing this post on this blog, President Hugo Chavez announced his veto at the Universities Act and called for the creation of a national commission to submit a further consultation People.
Article published in the Swiss daily Le Courrier January 4, 2011
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