Machado gassed by National Guard at peaceful demonstration in her support today
It may be easy to try to dismiss the removal of Maria Corina Machado as a duly elected Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly as another step in the imposition of the Maduro Dictatorship. But it is much more than that. If Leopoldo Lopez’ jailing was a sign that Maduro was not willing to walk the fine line between Democracy and Dictatorship that Chávez walked for years, Maria Corina’s absurd impeachment by the Venezuelan Supreme Court represents a break with any sort Constitutional order. This is not a fuzzy charge, there is no basis for the decision. There is nothing gray about what the lowest Court of the land has decided. There was no due process, no right for Ms. Machado to defend herself and a complete ignorance about the Constitution says.
The Government simply wanted to get rid of Machado as part of its confrontational plan. Whatever that may be.
The charge against Machado was begun by the man who would like to be the Dictator, the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly Diosdado Cabello. All that Cabello is missing today seems to be a little Hitler-like mustache to play the part to perfection. Cabello stated that Machado had violated Art. 197 of the Constitution, by accepting to speak for the Government of Panama at the Organization of American States. That article says that the Deputies will hold the job as full time jobs and devote all their time exclusively to the position.
First of all, Ms. Machado did not occupy another position by speaking in front of the OAS as a representative of the country of Panama, which graciously gave her the time that the majority of OAS members did not want to give her to present the case for that half (or more?) of Venezuela that is being ignored by the Maduro Government. You could say and I would say, that she was actually doing her job. In fact, none other than Jose Miguel Insulza, the Head of the OAS, has publicly stated that Ms. Machado was not speaking as a representative of Panama, but in her role as an elected Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly.
But even worse, the Venezuelan lowest Court actually justifies what Machado did at the OAS when it says:
Deputies can not exercise or accept other positions…except for educational activities, academic activities, accidental or of assistance….
What Machado did was certainly accidental and in no way was she representing another country, getting paid for it or not doing what the people who voted for her wanted her to do, whether Maduro or Diosdado like it or not.
And clearly for the Court, their words are a command.
But think about it. Machado was removed or impeached by the Court, without being allowed to defend herself. In fact, Insulza’s declaration that she acted as a Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly should have been enough to have the Court ignore the accusation against her.
But beyond this, Maduro, who was questionably elected President, with a promised audit of the vote shuffled under the rug, gets rid of an opposition Deputy who was elected with over 80% of the total vote. Ms. Machado could have been removed by the procedures that the Constitution establishes for it, just like Maduro can also be impeached. Instead, the Dictators chose the short cut, getting rid of her, just because…
What happens now to the only argument to defend Maduro that some people have: He was elected democratically.
Was he? Really? So was Machado, she really was elected, and the law and the Constitution were bypassed by the Dictator and his understudy to serve their purposes.
And that alone is enough to call for the removal of Maduro. Because democracy is not only about elections. It is about the daily exercise of democratic principles. The “people” may even support a Dictatorship, but Venezuela has a Constitution, a Democratic one at that and its precepts and tenets have to be respected, whether you would like Maduro (or Diosdado!) to be a Dictator.
In fact, they are so cynical, that a Chavista Deputy of the same National Assembly Adel El Zabayar, joined the forces defending Assad in that country for a while, as you can see in this picture. Not one Chavista, let alone the Venezuelan lowest Court said a beep about it. Talk about double standard and discrimination!
Thus, the rest is just wishful thinking by those that want Maduro’s Dictatorship to stay in power to satisfy their own personal ideological, monetary or personal reasons. But they have nothing to do with democracy, human rights and the Venezuelan Constitution.
The Devil's Excrement 