The Devil's Excrement

The Interamerican Human Rights Court ruled this week against the Chavez Government in three cases. The Court ordered the Chavez Government to act “without delay” to protect the life and integrity of Liliana Ortega, the Head of Cofavic, the best regarded human rights organization in Venezuela, those being persecuted by paramilitary groups in Falcon state and a group of reporters. The Court ordered the Government to report back by December 12th. on the measures undertaken to obey the order.

In one of the most bizarre episodes of the Chavez Goverment, a former Vice-President of Venezuela during the Chavez administration, the former President of the state oil company PDVSA during the April crisis, two of the Board members at that time, its current  Head of Security and others, were charged by local newspaper El Nacional yesterday (page E-1) of forming a parallel Board of Directors for the company and holding a shareholders meeting at which they made the following decisions:

-Hold a politcal trial of all of the Board members of PDVSA during the last twenty years.

-Remove the President of the company, Ali Rodriguez, a Chavez appointee and both the current Minister and Vice-Minister of Energy.

-Hold a new stockholder’s meeting to have the Board of Directors report to them on their administration.

While one of the former Directors of PDVSA denied that this ever took place (today’s El Nacional, page E-1), a fomer Director of the Ministry of Energy and Mines who was also named by the newspaper yesterday said today (same page) that the documents are real and while the parallel Board and shareholders meeting were proposed, they were never held.

To me that is like saying that I am indeed crazy, but not as much as you are accusing me of being.

Despite last minute efforts by the Secretary General of the OAS Cesar Gaviria, the talks to stop the general strike scheduled for Monday broke down today. The Government blamed the more radical groups for the breakdown, however, we had been skeptical of any last minute resolution as the Government could not promise to hold the referendum after the ruling by the  Supreme Court two days ago.

In a very terse statement the US Government appears to be sending a clear message to the Chavez administration that the electoral road can not be blocked the way it has been in the last few days:

“The United States reiterates its full support for the efforts of OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria to facilitate a peaceful, democratic, constitutional, and electoral solution to Venezuela’s ongoing political crisis. We note the strong statements of support for the Secretary General’s mission issued recently by OAS member states and the chairman of the OAS Permanent Council.

We express our concern about provocative and unnecessary actions that imperil the national dialogue process. We call on all parties to exercise responsibly their democratic rights and authority, and to refrain from actions that would violate the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

It is incumbent upon all parties to support Secretary General Gaviria, return to the dialogue table, and fashion a means by which the sovereign voice of the Venezuelan people can be heard through their votes“

Clearly the Chavez administration is now losing the image war internationally as  its efforts to block the referendum have revealed the true nature of the Government.

Separately, Globovision is reporting that Secretary General of the OAS Cesar Gaviria has presented tonight to both the Government and the opposition a wide ranging proposal which includes withdrawal of the intervention of the Metropolitan police by the Government, election of the new Electoral Council, review of the electoral register and the cancellation of the indefinite general strike which had been planned for Monday. Why all of a sudden there is so much progress might simply be due to evidence that the strike would be extremely succesful.

In what is already a controversial decision, the Venezuelan Electoral Commission approved the referendum for Feb. 2nd. late on Wednesday night by a vote of three to one, with one member abstaining. The member that abstained did so because he thought the signatures had not been checked sufficiently, the timetable was uncertain and it was uncertain whether there will be funds for it.

The decision is controversial because the Supreme Court had ruled that the electoral commission could only make decisons based on a qualified majority of four, but only three voted in favor of holding a referendum. The way it has been explained to me is as follows: On Nov. 17th. the Supreme Court ruled on two issues. One, it told the President that it had to expedite the approval of the Electoral Power Bill as it was, and could not send it back to the National Assembly, which was done. Within the same ruling, the Court said that based on the then valid Electoral Statute, it had to make all decisions based by the qualified majority of four. However, that statute is no longer valid since the Electoral Power Bill is now the law and it only requires a simply majority.

However, it is all moot, as the Supreme Court has just ruled  that the decision is not valid……

After reading the Court’s argument and finishing Thanksgiving dinner (my wife is a US citizen) I am amazed, within my limited legal knowdlege, at what the decision says. Basically the Court says that the transient Electoral Statute takes precedence over the recently approved Electoral Power Bill, because the new CNE has not been elected. This seems illogical to me. If the new Bill regulates electoral matters, it does not matter who and how many people occupy the positions in the CNE. After all, the Electoral Power bill says that current members of the CNE continue being in their positions as long as a new CNE is not elected. Thus, we are trapped in a chicken and egg situation, under the new law, 2/3 of the National Assembly are required to name a new CNE, but neither group has more than 50% and they will not elect a new CNE under the current tensions.

Thus, we have reached a very clear point: Two million Venezuelans have legally asked for a refrendum asking people whether they want Chavez to resign. The Constitution says 1.2 million can do it, but the Chavez administration has used every trick in the book to stop it, including the mysterious change in vote by one of the CNE members. Where is democracy in this? How can even Chavez’ supporters who are in the CNE object to the referendum? The answer is simple, this administration does not believe in democracy and because of this, the country will go on unlimited general strike next Monday. And we will be called coupsters  and  undemocratic for it!!!!