The approval of the Enabling Bill has been such a charade, which could be considered almost funny, if it were not such a serious matter. What the process shows is simply the total disregard for the rule of law Chavismo has, as well as the fact the National Assembly Deputies are totally servile to the wishes and desires of the Autocrat/Dictator.
On the way to the approval of the Bill, the following irregularities occurred, which make the whole process absurd and ridiculous and prove the autocratic nature of the regime as well as the willingness of the members of the National Assembly to bypass the democratic process, not only refusing to discuss the content of Bills, even among themselves, but going as far as not revealing their contents until the last minute:
1) The text of the Enabling Bill used in the first discussion was spurious. While the Deputies to the National Assembly were discussing thirteen areas for the Bill, described by single lines, the Procuradoria, the equivalent of the Attorney General, was working on a very detailed text which the Deputies did not know and was leaked to the press that day.
2) The day of the second discussion of the Bill, the text to be approved was not available to the Deputies for discussion and even after the approval no text was available to the press and the public. It was only the next day in Plaza Bolivar, when a ceremony celebrating the approval of this grotesque Bill was held, that the full text was released.
3) The text presented that day in Plaza Bolivar was changed on it’s way to the Official Gazette, where all Bills become law when published in it. This is simply illegal, it is false as indicated by the President of the National Assembly Cilia Flores that the text was changed to improve the text and make it more coherent. This is simply illegal. According to the law, what comes out of Parliament can only be changed within ten days by having the Executive branch request it and having the National assembly discuss the changes. This was never done. Moreover, the changes did violate the spirit and the essence of the enabling Bill, allowing it to legislate in areas that were not originally included.
By approving the Enabling Bill, the National Assembly Deputies have practically delegated the legislative power on the President, a contradiction in itself, given the separation of powers. But there are many more violations of the law. Among them:
—The Enabling Bill allows Chavez to legislate by decree under the current Constitution. The President has said that he will change the Constitution and then approve some of the Bills so that they can be adapted to the new text. This can’t be done, once the Constitution is changed, the Enabling Bill is no longer valid as it was approved under the old text.
—It allows for Chavez to legislate limits or and restrictions to constitutional rights and guarantees, which can only be done by issuing a “Law” and not a decree. What a law is, is clearly defined in Art. 202 of the Constitution, as “an act sanctioned by the National Assembly”. Chavez decreeing on this would also violate the Interamerican Convention on Human Rights.
—The National assembly can’t modify the Constitution by Law. Thus, neither can Chavez by decree and some matters on which Chavez has been enabled cover Constitutional areas, such as how the state is organized or the territorial organization of the State.
—The 2000 Constitution establishes that whenever a new law is being considered, other state institutions, the citizens and organized society need to be consulted (Art. 211). Moreover, State legislatures have to be consulted on matters that affect them (Art. 206). This process applies to both when the Law is being formed, to once the Law has been approved. Neither will be done under the new Enabling Bill according to the document from the Attorney General that even promotes “that as few people as possible and nobody outside the Government” participate.
—The Enabling Bill does not specify which Laws will be approved under it.
—To prove the abuse of power under the Enabling Bill, this week President Chavez passed a decree under it creating a new medal of honor called February 4th. to celebrate “acts of heroism” as if that bloody day was such an act. Chavez used the Enabling Bill to issue this decree, not a single word in the Bill even remotely considers this possibility.
Thus, all that has been enabled is an autocratic charade and a blatant violation of the rule of law in Venezuela.
The Devil's Excrement 
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