Venezuela strife seen breeding disdain for law
www.boston.com Government, foes defy courts By Mike Ceaser, Globe Correspondent, 1/12/2003
CARACAS - The government says a disguised coup is taking place. The opposition accuses the government of imposing dictatorship. But the real victim, observers say, is the rule of law.
The detention of a high-ranking national guard officer in defiance of a judge's order, and the opposition's call not to pay taxes, are the latest examples of how both sides in the struggle over President Hugo Chavez's rule have flouted Venezuela's never-strong legal structure during the six-week strike. Some observers warn that the disdain for the law could push this nation of 24 million over the edge and prompt widespread violence or even civil war.
''There are large sectors of society which don't accept the arbiters we have,'' said Carlos Correa of the Caracas human-rights organization Provea. ''This could advance into a situation in which there is no authority which anybody respects.''
On Dec. 30, a dissident National Guard general, Carlos Alfonzo Martinez, was arrested without a court order and has been held without charges or access to attorneys, even though a judge ordered him released. His freedom was a key demand behind an opposition march Jan. 3, in which demonstrators clashed with government supporters, leaving two people dead and dozens injured.
For its part, the opposition is calling on its supporters not to pay taxes as an additional pressure tactic to force Chavez to resign or agree to early elections.
Carlos Ortega, leader of the opposition Venezuelan Workers Confederation, told supporters early this month that the tax money ''could be used in a way contrary to the nation's values.''
Both sides also have interpreted the law according to their own convenience. On Dec. 15, the opposition protested furiously after Chavez declared that military officers need not obey judicial orders. Nevertheless, when the Supreme Tribunal of Justice ordered striking petroleum workers back to work a few days later, the opposition ignored the ruling. Chavez justified his instruction to the generals by saying that the president's authority superseded that of the courts.
The disregard of courts and laws occurs against a backdrop of calls for the military to step in and oust Chavez, as a group of officers did during a short-lived April coup. Many of Chavez's opponents justify rebellion based on Article 350 of the nation's Constitution, which says Venezuelans do not have to recognize any government that contradicts democratic values or infringes on human rights. The officers cited Article 350 during their April coup, and during the past weeks Chavez's opponents have said it justifies the petroleum and tax strikes.
Janet Kelly, an American political scientist based in Caracas, said invoking the article sets a dangerous precedent.
''The opposition says, `This government is so unjust we won't obey anything,''' she said. ''You're questioning the legitimacy of the government to rule.''
Indeed, the discourse of many Chavez opponents has become increasingly incendiary in recent weeks.
''We're fighting to install the rule of law,'' says constitutional attorney Luis Betancourt, who compares Venezuela under Chavez to Panama under Manuel Noriega and even Germany under the Nazis. ''In a battle, you can't respect the same rules as in a democracy.''
Neither Chavez nor his opposition can boast clean democratic credentials. During the two days in April while the opposition held power, its businessman-president dissolved Parliament, annulled the Constitution, and conducted arbitrary searches and arrests of Chavez supporters.
Chavez himself led a bloody but unsuccessful 1992 coup attempt. His government also supports ''Bolivarian circles,'' activist organizations accused of employing violence and intimidation.
The opposition accuses Chavez of using the popularity that carried him to landslide election victories in 1998 and 2000 to place his allies in all branches of government, eliminating checks and balances.
As evidence, they point to two dozen court cases that have been filed against Chavez, accusing him of everything from corruption to crimes against humanity for some of the 19 street marchers fatally shot before the April coup attempt. Nearly all those cases are in judicial limbo, neither accepted nor rejected by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.
Mohamad Merhi, leader of a group of victims of the April violence and their relatives, said their case was recently rejected by the tribunal and sent to the attorney general's office, even though the attorney general is accused of complicity in the killings.
''We have no confidence in any investigation by the attorney general,'' said Merhi, whose son, Jesus, was killed April 11.
The opposition accuses Chavez of using a similar tactic on a nonbinding referendum on the president's rule. Although the National Electoral Court set a referendum for Feb. 2, Chavez has said that the action is illegal and that the government will not finance it. The issue is now before the Supreme Tribunal.
But in a polarized society, almost no judge is above suspicion these days. The weakening of the legal system, compounded by an ongoing battle between Chavez and the mayor of Caracas for control of the capital's police force, translates into a climate of increasing criminal impunity, said Provea's Correa.
''With the [legal] institutions deteriorated, the politicization of the police force only makes things worse,'' Correa said. ''When you have judges who act not as judges but as politicians, you experience a decomposition of society.''
This story ran on page A12 of the Boston Globe on 1/12/2003.