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Defending the people of Venezuela from the “whores of the Empire” Printer friendly page Print This
By Arturo Rosales
Axis of Logic
Wednesday, Dec 9, 2015

We all know that the Venezuelan government was trounced at the polls for control of the National Assembly on December 6. They were defeated by a disgruntled voting population that had been subjected to a brutal economic war of more than two years, starting about three months before President Chávez died on March 6 2013.

The final results were:
opposition 109 seats;
government 55 seats;
indigenous vote 3 seats.
Of the 167 deputies that make up the National Assembly a 2/3 majority is required to have virtually absolute power over legislation – passing and repealing laws; organizing a recall referendum against the President without collecting signatures; removing and appointing Supreme Court judges; removing and appointing rectors of the National Electoral Council (CNE); firing and appointing Ministers to the President’s cabinet; authorizing foreign military bases on Venezuelan soil; approving IMF loans to mortgage the country and its people for decades.

Two-thirds of 167 is exactly 111.33 seats. So the Venezuelan right-wing opposition, with its new power in the Assembly, could muster the necessary 112 votes it needs to force a recall referendum - if it has the support of all three indigenous deputies.

We know that these three indigenous deputies are aligned with the right and so, in all likelihood, they would support the opposition MUD alliance. However, we suspect that the government will somehow “convince” at least one or two deputies of the 112 to vote with the government minority in certain critical situations. There are several with criminal skeletons in the cupboard that they would prefer to keep there and others with charges pending for conspiring to overthrow the government in early 2015. This has been done before, allegedly using bribes, and can be done again. However, we will cross that bridge journalistically when the need or opportunity arises as we do not operate using rumors or gossip!

Calls for laws to be repealed by opposition interests
Even before all the election results were officially declared by the CNE, the opposition, sensing victory, began calling for their deputies to plan the  repeal of laws that are in their personal interests but not in the interests of the Venezuelan people. These changes would not even benefit the voters the opposition press-ganged into voting against the government but not necessarily for the opposition, based on promises that MUD would resolve the “shortages” so that people might be able to purchase basic goods without standing in line for hours.

Examples of these pre-emptive calls are the bosses’ organization, Fedecameras (famous for organizing the 2002 oil industry sabotage and lock-out), that wants labor laws repealed and the fair price law repealed which would enable them to fire people at will, pay their employees low wages, and charge whatever they like for their goods and services. The National Ranchers Association has asked for repealing the land laws that guarantee small farmers land to farm for the benefit of the country. Most of this land was idle for decades before Chávez promulgated this law.

In a nutshell, this author believes that upon assuming power on January 5, 2016 the opposition, with its absolute majority, will aim to dismantle all the social programs and Missions set up by President Chávez to protect the Venezuelan people and to give them a fair share of the oil revenues.

Surely it is the task and obligation of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to protect the interests and constitutional rights of the vast majority of the population by offering them free education, a roof over their heads, a fair minimum wage, and health care as outlined in the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution. If this is threatened legally or otherwise, it is the President's constitutional duty to protect the population from such attacks – whatever their source. The President is permitted, per Article 236 of the Bolivarian Constitution that was passed by 78% of participating voters into law in a National Referendum on December 15 1999, to dissolve the National Assembly.

Let’s look at Article 236, sec. 21:
Article 236: The following are attributions and duties of the President of the Republic:
(21) To dissolve the National Assembly in the case contemplated by this Constitution.
In other words, the President of the Republic – in this case Nicolás Maduro Moros – has the power granted to him under constitutional law to dissolve the National Assembly.

Not being legal experts, we cannot give an example backed up by jurisprudence for such an action. But we do not believe that if the people are threatened with having their rights stripped away by a National Assembly hell-bent on depriving the population of constitutional rights, he would have no option but to dissolve the Assembly.

This would be done within the context of the law of the land and not as a coup - such as the very same opposition carried out on April 12 2002 when the whole Constitution was abolished as well as all the National Institutions.

Article 236 is a legal escape valve to protect the people in the case that the opposition has a united front of 112 deputies determined to attack the rights of the population for their own gain and that of their paymasters in the North who have historically used them as “whores of the Empire” in Venezuela.

President Maduro has a lot to do to regain lost credibility and restore confidence in the chavista movement after the resounding defeat of December 6. Nevertheless, chavismo still received 43% of the popular vote in the most adverse of circumstances the Revolution has ever encountered.

This will take time but actions have to be implemented forthwith to prevent the oligarchs from once more using Venezuela as their personal piggy banks with the blessing of the State Department and White House.

By defending the Venezuelan people, President Maduro would also be defending the revolutionary legacy of Hugo Chávez, father of the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution that re-founded the country, and who said, "The people are the owners of power, that's why we're moving forward in participatory and protagonic democracy."


Arturo Rosales writes from Caracas



Copyright 2015 by AxisofLogic.com 

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