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Venezuela

Hugo Chávez Looking To “Rule By Decree”

Critics say Venezuelan President wants to use an emergency flood-response law to nip power from growing opposition presence in National Assembly

Hugo Chavez has sights set (Flickr)

EYES INSIDELATIN AMERICA

Once more, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is pushing the accepted bounds of democracy. Under a national emergency law voted on Thursday, Chávez could gain the power to effectively rule by decree thanks to legislation that grants him special powers to deal with deadly floods that have hit the country.

The government says the law is designed to give special attention to the estimated 138,000 people across the country who have lost their homes in the ravaging rains that have drenched the South American nation for weeks. Caracas daily El Nacional quotes Vice President Elías Jaua's announcing Chávez's petition to Assembly members, and justifying the new powers: "We are in the middle of a deep crisis which deserves the president's request," Jaua said Tuesday.

Another Caracas-based paper El Universal reports that the flood response is part of a packet of measures the Chávez administration wants lawmakers to consider, which will also allow him to legislate in other areas such as finance, housing and infrastructure, social affairs, international cooperation, and urban planning. There are 11 reforms in total to be considered, including a new media law that leading human rights groups say could be used to clamp down on freedom of expression.

Critics say the measures are part of a strategy to curtail legislative powers before an opposition bloc joins the National Assembly next month. When the assembly reconvenes on January 5, the opposition's strength will be notably bolstered, taking 67 of the 165 seats in parliament

One of those incoming lawmakers, Tomás Guanipa, said that the government once again is showing that it is "authoritarian, arbitrary, anti-democratic."

"The emergency caused by the rains is just one of the clauses in the enabling law," Guanipa told El Universal on Wednesday. "In reality this is one law to transform the state, society and the economy in very diverse areas, and because of this, it has nothing to do with the emergency."


The enabling law passed during first discussion Tuesday in the unicameral assembly, where Chávez's political allies hold the majority. Assembly president Cilia Flores, a Chávez ally, said that lawmakers would give the president special powers to rule by decree for one full year when the motion is presented in the lower chamber on Thursday, and Vice President Jaua predicted that Chávez could issue the first decrees in 15 days, as reported by the Buenos Aires daily La Nación.

This will be the fourth time in Chávez's 11 years in office he has ruled by decree. In Washington on Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said that the Venezuelan leader was undermining incoming opposition lawmakers, who were elected in September. "He seems to be finding new and creative ways to justify autocratic powers," Crowley said. "What he is doing here, we believe, is subverting the will of the Venezuelan people."



In a statement, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also said that Chávez's measure gave him "imprecise" and "ambigous' powers that weaken Venezuela's democratic system.


Martin Delfín

Worldcrunch

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Geopolitics

Putin In The Middle East, A Chilling Reminder Of The Power He Still Holds

Defying an ICC arrest warrant, Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a one-day foray to UAE and Saudi Arabia to display his role in shaping the geopolitical and energy landscape — and to make the world forget about the Ukraine war just a little bit more.

screenshot of Vladimir Putin and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Vladimir Putin met with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

TASS/Screenshot
Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — There are several remarkable aspects to Vladimir Putin's trip to the Middle East: firstly, the fact that it is taking place at all. The Russian president has been facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since March: since then, he has only traveled to countries that are safe for him, such as former Soviet Republics and China.

This is his first foray outside his own world: he's showing to Russians back home that he's not a global outcast.

His destinations are also interesting: the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in a whirlwind one-day trip. He arrived in the Emirates in the middle of COP28, making sure to go after the Western leaders that had left. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris were there last week, making the choreography perfect for Putin — and for the UAE, which has positioned itself as a hub for circumventing international sanctions.

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