The Devil's Excrement

By preparing such a ludicrous draft of the proposed regulation for the recall referendum, the CNE has lost a lot of credibility and the draft, which contained numerours violations of the law has been deemed “useless” by the opposition. The democratic coordinator presented today a very simple set of regulations with fifteen articles which it wants to become the starting point of the new discussion in the CNE next Tuesday. This puts the CNE on the spot and may help discard most of the previous proposal.

Daniel of Danielnews has prepared a power point presentation with the main economic numbers of the Chavez era, demonstarting the failure of his policies in a very simple and straightforward way. .

A very strong explosion shook the headquarters of the honor guard that is supposed to be in charge of the President’s security. Fortunately there were no damages to people. Equally fortunate was that fact that so far the Government has not blamed the opposition for the bomb. For me, it is quite difficult to understand how this could have happened, the headquarters of the honor guard is next to the Presidential Palace and the whole area is surrounded by soldiers, guards, armored vehicles and blockades. According to the Minister of Inetrior and Justice it was “thrown” by people that got on top of a garbage can. Some security…….

The Head of the “Tactical Command of the Revolution” Guillermo Garcia Ponce, proposed today that the participation of international organizations as observers in electoral processes in Venezuela be regulated. He said: ” This is due to the fact that given the Venezuelan political situation the interference  by foreign countries or covert organizations would, if they were given the character of participants, an inadmisible interference in Venezuelan politics”. Now, given that this comes after a sharp attack on the US Ambassador’s visit to the Electoral Board two weeks ago, makes me think that the Chavez Government itself plans to interfere with the upcoming referendum and does not want to have any foreign observers present.

I have a very simple proposal to resolve the issue: Let’s give these international observers the same rights, facilities and regulatory framework than the more than 5,000 Cuban advisers that are presently in Venezuela including Chavez’ bodyguards, “sports’ instructors, medical doctors and the like. That would be fair, wouldn’t it?

Reportedly Hugo Chavez cancelled his visit to the US, because he was afraid he might be subpoenaed for the trial against him brought by the victims of the April 11th. march (see article right below). Chavez, who relishes these trips, was going to visit the UN and everything was ready for it. However, someone warned the President that he could be subpoenaed. Chavez has been accused in a Florida Court of violating the rights of those killed and injured that day, based on the fact that the military plan activated ahd already been banned by an International Court.

Night before last, a judge declare these shooters .I understand the prosecutor is going to appeal, but only because the decision questioned his work. He also believed they were innocent. The judge’s argument? This was legitimate Defense and they were “under a state of necessity” and the accusation was “weak”. This is justice in the Vth. Republic.

Not much time to translate the full article, but there is a very complete discussion of the fourteen articles of the proposed referendum regulations that violate either the laws or the Constitution of Venezuela in today’s El Universal. The first link is the discussion, the second link is article by article and which law is violated……

The discussion of the regulations for the referendum which I dubbed the Big rip off yesterday, were postponed until next Monday  “to allow for the comments and criticisms to reach the CNE” according to the President of that institution Francisco Carrasquero. This is a result of the outrage (with and without the prefix “out”) of the opposition, over the attempt to use the regulations to slow down the process.

According to the illustrious President of the CNE, criticism of the CNE’s lawyer, who is known to be very pro-Chavez, is unjustified as this simply represents a proposal, subject to change and discussion. Well, either Mr. Carrasquero thinks we are stupid or he is. First of all, most members of Chavez’ MVR have supported the regulations fully, saying that they are “just” or that they can be approved with minor modifications as was stated by Jorge Rodriguez today, one of the pro-Chavez members of the CNE. Second, if I were Mr. Carrasquero, I would fire the CNE’s lawyer. The reason is simple, according to Teodoro Petkoff (who is a member of the advisory Board to the CNE appointed by the Supreme Court) in his Tal Cual Editorial, as many as 12 of the articles of the regulation contain violations of the Constitution or the Law, including numerous violations of the “LOPA”, the “Ley Organica de Procedimientos Administrativos” which regulates how every single request and procedure of the Government has to be handled by every single  Government office. Thus, if the CNE’s lawyer does not even know these basic laws, how can he be expected to advise, write and participate in the preparation of such an important law by the CNE?

But we would have to be very naïve to think that the lawyer for the CNE went on his own and wrote this abominable draft for the regulations without consulting anyone. The philosophy behind the proposal was clearly to impede the recall from taking place. No petition for a referendum in Venezuela or anywhere in the world is handled by the electoral authority like the regulations propose. No referendum, in Venezuela or anywhere in the world, bans the initiating petition from being taken from home to home as a way of gathering more signatures. No referendum petition ever, has been handled as if it were the final election like these regulations attempt to do. The real and important act is the vote for the recall, not the petition requesting it. It is that day that things matter. What is obvious is that since Chavez and his cronies know that there is no way in Hell that they may win the recall, they are simply trying to block, tackle, mutilate, maim and castrate any attempt by the opposition to submit a valid request for a recall referendum. And that was what the CNE’s lawyer attempted to do, coached by someone from Chavez’ MVR clearly with Mr. Carrasquero’s knowledge, since he defended it so strongly.

While I do not have time to translate it tonight, there is a very funny article by Elides J. Rojas in today’s El Universal with a preposterous parody with a set of regulations for referenda which I recommend to those that understand Spanish. Rojas’ proposed Article 1. should be enough to get the gist of it:

Article 1. The following types of organizations are prohibited  to participate in the gathering of signatures: Political parties, civilian organizations of any nature, unions, professional or employer’s associations, companies, sports teams, media or neighborhood associations.

The rest is equally funny and ludicrous, in fact so much, that it reminded me of the real proposal as presented yesterday.