Morales voices solidarity with Chávez for OAS "attacks"

[Judi Lynn]

Morales voices solidarity with Chávez for OAS "attacks"
The Venezuelan Foreign Office released two communiqués related to the talks held by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez and his counterparts of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and Argentina, Cristina Fernández

Bolivia's President Evo Morales voiced his solidarity with Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez for the "attacks" from the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, the Venezuelan Foreign Office reported in two press releases.

In a second communiqué, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on a phone call made by President Chávez to his Argentinean counterpart Cristina Fernández, "to exchange views on the bilateral cooperation agenda for 2011, particularly regarding stronger mechanisms of industrial and agricultural cooperation."

In the meantime, Morales "took the initiative to contact President Chávez to express solidarity of his own, his government and the Bolivian people in the face of the coordinated attacks from US government officials and the OAS Secretary-General unleashed against Venezuela, its institutions and its democracy."

OAS Secretary-General Insulza has regretted that deputies of the former Venezuelan National Assembly passed a set of laws, including a law which empowers President Chávez to rule by decree, intended to prevent new opposition congressmen from trying to hinder government initiatives.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/01/12/en_pol_esp_morales-voices-solid_12A4971253.shtml
Opposition newspaper

[Peace Patriot]

1. Chavez and the outgoing National Assembly were very smart to do this--

--to give Chavez the powers NOW to rebuild the areas hit by catastrophic floods. Can you just imagine the obstructionism of the opposition minority in the new National Assembly--who are so like the Mad Tea Partiers here-- as they sacrifice 30,000 to 100,000 homeless people to their vendetta against Chavez?

They would, most certainly, block every effort of the Chavez government to address the crisis.

Insulza really ought to be replaced. He has turned the OAS into an arm of the CIA.

[Mika]

2. Yet the US RW just LOVES the unitary executive concept. n/t

[Peace Patriot]

3. Har, har! nt

[social_critic]

5. That's right

The imperial presidency is a serious problem - and this isn't just a problem for the American right wing. But Venezuela is way beyond an imperial presidency. The US constitution is very clear in this respect, Congress can not delegate its powers. I happen to believe Congress HAS delegated its powers and the Supreme Court has looked the other way, but it has been in fairly minor areas. In Venezuela's case, the move has been clear, it guts the rights of the incoming National Assembly, it is a power vested on the president by an assembly in its dying days, rushed at the last minute, and given for a term which extends beyond the assembly's term.

I find it really interesting to see how your cognitive dissonance has become so strong, you can not bring your selves to face the simple fact that moves such as this are clear signs of an autocratic regime in which power has been concentrated way too far, and concentrated in the hands of an individual, Chavez, who has demonstrated he is incompetent, and somewhat of a megalomaniac (as anybody who has sat through one of his four hour speeches can vouch for).

I find the rise of an imperial presidency in the US to be a troubling development. But this isn't something we can blame the right wing for all by itself. For example, when Clinton decided to bomb Yugoslavia in 1999, he lacked the Congressional mandate (a declaration of war), which was clearly needed under the US Constitution. Yet he went ahead and bombed, and in the process US forces committed war crimes. Which means Mr Clinton can and should be tried as a war criminal.

I am using Clinton rather than Bush, whose crimes are far worse, merely to point out that indeed an Imperial Presidency is a disease, it is here, and both left and right seem to enjoy it WHEN THEY HAPPEN TO BE IN POWER.

As for Venezuela, it has degenerated far beyond reason into a disfunctional autocracy. I know many of you are naive romantics who think what's going on in Venezuela is a "nice socialist revolution for the people", but I'm inside, and as one who is seeing the results first hand, I can vouch what's going on is a terrible perversion, and it WILL destroy Venezuela's future.

[CJvR]

7. Come on!

You have to love the dictatorial humility!

I only ask for 12 months, but the National Assembly have such confidence in me that they gave me 18 months.

Or perhaps they didn't think he was competent enough to get the job done in a single year... ;-)

[social_critic]

4. Enabling law has nothing to do with powers to rebuild - it's about gutting the new Assembly

The enabling law giving Chavez the right to rule by decree was passed by the outgoing assembly for a term which extended way beyond its term - in other words, it gutted the term of the new incoming assembly, in which the opposition has much more representation. And then there's the "small issue" that opposition members gained 52 % of the popular vote, something which the communists blocked with gross gerrymandering of voting districts.

The enabling law thus blocks the new assembly's right to legislate. It is evidently unconstitutional. It's unconscionable, anti democratic, and amounts to a coup given by the gang of thieves ruling Venezuela.

I guess now we know where the true Axis of Evil is sitting in Latin America. Correa, Morales, Noriega, Castro, and Chavez. The five anti democratic autocrats. These guys remind me of a quote from a Turkish politician:

"DEMOCRACY IS LIKE A TRAIN, AND WE'LL GET OFF IT AT THE RIGHT STATION".

Chavez and his gang of thieves are getting off the train. Castro never even bothered to board it. The other three are on their respective trains, planning to get off when it's convenient.

[social_critic]

6. You know nothing about Venezuelan politics or system of government

That comment "They would, most certainly, block every effort of the Chavez government to address the crisis." shows you need to study a bit about Venezuelan politics and the way government works. Current legislation allows the government to address the matter of about 135,000 persons impacted by flooding. Furthermore, if new legislation is needed, the PSUV, Chavez' party, still holds the majority in the incoming assembly. The assembly is a unicameral body, and laws which fall under the regime of existing Organic Laws can be passed by simple majority.

Evidently you don't have the foggiest idea about the nature of the floods, where they took place, or what happened in the 10 years before these floods. The flood and landslide effects were severe, but the number of housing units totally destroyed is less than 10 thousand. And this doesn't require naming a dictator, which is what they did.

The real reason for the enabling law, as I mentioned in countless posts before - posts which you didn't deign to respond to or debate, but which I continue to post for the benefit of others who are not Chavez fanatics, is to avoid a debate in the National Assembly, and to send the people a clear signal that Chavez is the man, that he'll run down the Constitution, step on whatever has to be stepped on, and destroy anybody who gets in his way. His megalomania and desire to become Venezuela's Caligula are now at their peak, and nothing is going to stop him as he destroys the country.

[CJvR]

8. Caligula?

I doubt anyone would desire to become a Caligula, unless he had a number of verrry attractive sisters - does Chavez have that?

[social_critic]

9. I don't think so

I wasn't thinking about the sisters, I was thinking about the way Caligula destroyed Rome's wealth in such a short period of time, the arrogance, and the Senate's lack of backbone.

[ChangoLoa]

10. For 18 months? I don't think he'll dare :) nt