The Constitution ... verbose, unfulfilled and mostly violated

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: While the US Constitution has 7 articles and has lasted more than 200 years our Venezuelan Constitution has 350 articles and is in imminent need to be reformed after 2 years.

The US Constitution is very matter of fact, dealing with government processes while ours is a philosophical treatise.

Our irresponsible legislators approved a Constitution so verbose and diffuse that the first 70 articles could easily be compressed into 10 articles without sacrificing the essentials. Worse still, the legislators approved a Constitution which can not be fulfilled by the State, even if they tried (which they do not).

The whole group of articles on Social and Family Rights, Educational and Economic Rights: numbers 76, 78, 80-89, 99-101, 104, 108, 110-111, 117, are impossible to be honored. Environmental issues mentioned in articles 128 and 129 can not be tackled due to extreme disorganization of the government agencies in charge. Article 141 on the nature of Public Administration is a piece of science fiction.

The articles listed above can not be fulfilled because the State simply can not guarantee what these articles orders the State to guarantee. Those articles of the Constitution which can be fulfilled by the State are often being violated.

Although I am not a Constitutional expert but just a reader of our Constitution, like the President is, I have identified around 60 or more articles of the Constitution which have been or are being violated by President Chavez and/or his fellow government officers. The articles are:

1. The name of the country. Chavez often calls it "The Revolutionary Republic of Venezuela" in violation of its real name...

2. "The government will always be decentralized"... However, Chavez is doing all he can to centralize power. He tells governors. "Go and ask for money to the coupsters...." although he is obliged to send regional governments the money allotted to them by the Constitution.

3. "All government officers should abide by this Constitution"... As I will show, Chavez is not doing this...

4. "The territory can not be the site of foreign installations with military purpose"... There are Colombian guerrilla sites in the Perija range of Venezuela and the government knows it.

5. "The State is obliged to... preserve territorial integrity"... this is not being done ... see above

6. "The State guarantees justice which will be impartial, transparent, independent, without delay"... this is a cruel joke as none of these qualities is present in revolutionary justice.

7. " No one can be arrested without a judicial order ... and will have the right to communicate immediately with relatives, lawyers or friends..." Violated in the case of Carlos Fernandez, who was kidnapped for 10 hours before the family knew where he was.

8. Private property can not be violated without a judicial order"... General Acosta Carles broke into POLAR's plant without a judicial order, acting like a savage, confiscating property arbitrarily, hitting women...

9. "Privacy of communications can only be interfered by judicial order..." In Venezuela government regularly records private conversations and make them public without being penalized.

10. " A person is presumed innocent until proof in contrary"... Chavez accuses opposition leaders and PDVSA managers of saboteurs, bombers and criminals every week over national TV, all without proof. He violates this article of the Constitution.

11. "Every citizen can transit freely within the country or in and out of the country" ... extortion by National Guard and immigration officers is a common occurrence.

12. "Every citizen can request information from public officers and should receive adequate and timely answer"... You must be kidding. Public officers will not do that. Most of them will not even talk to you.

13. "Religious intolerance is forbidden..." But Chavez says publicly that the Catholic church is one of the worst tumors of Venezuelan society.

14. "Financing of political events with State funds is forbidden." Who pays for the Bolivarian Circles, for the buses which transport people to hear Chavez speak, for the program "Alo Presidente" which is a vehicle to browbeat the opposition? The State...

15. "The use of firearms and toxic substances in the control of peaceful marches is strictly forbidden..." The Venezuelan army is the best customer for tear gas in Latin America and they use against the opposition in every march.

71 " Issues of national importance can be the object of a Consultative Referendum whenever required by 10% or more of the voters..." This was duly asked for and rejected by government in February of this year... The Ombudsman did not open his mouth.

91 "Minimum salary should be equal to the Basic Basket of Goods." In reality it is one third of that basket.

93. "Work dismissals contrary to the Constitution are null and void." Tell this to most of the 16,000 dismissed workers of PDVSA.

94. "Labor unions can not be intervened." This is what the government tried to do to CTV.

95. |"Environmental Education is mandatory in public and private Institutions." This is largely unfulfilled.

96. "The State will promote private economic initiative." In reality government has been destroying private economic initiative.

97. "The State guarantees the right to private property." But it promotes the invasion of private property.

120-126. "On the rights of indigenous people to have their economic activities." In practice they have become beggars in the big cities without the government doing anything about it.

127. "The State is obliged to guarantee a clean environment in all respects." This a joke as the government is doing most of the contaminating in the country through oil spills by PDVSA, uncontrolled forest fires, garbage mounting in the streets of most cities.

128. "The State is responsible for damages caused to citizens due to errors on the part of the Public Administration." I have never seen this happening. On the contrary, government is promoting this damage through illegal invasion of private property.

129. "Citizens have the right to be informed promptly of all matters which affect them and to have access to the files related to them." This is rarely done, certainly never done in the case of the small people.

130. "Public officers are at the service of the State and not of interest groups." Chavez is also President of his political parties. The Bolivarian Circles headquarters is the Presidential Palace. All cabinet members attend political rallies. The Mayor Freddy Bernal is the coordinator of urban guerrillas.

131. "No contract of public interest can be signed without the approval of the National Assembly." The oil agreement with Cuba was not. The recent Gas contracts were not.

132. "The Regional States will have an income equal to 20% of the total income of the National Revenue to be distributed among the States." Chavez refuses to do this, in spite of an order of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.

133. "The State guarantees the integrity of the territory." But we have Colombian guerrillas in our midst.

134. "The President is obliged to abide by the Constitution." But he is not doing this.

251-252. "The Council of State is the top advisory council of the government in matters of national policy." But this council has never been convened.

255. "The Law guarantees civic participation in the selection of judges." This has not been done.

256. Requisites to be a member of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. Not fulfilled by several of the current incumbents.

257. Describes the mechanism to select the members of the TSJ. This mechanism was not followed in selecting the current ones.

258. Has to do with the quality of prisons and of the penal system. Systematically violated by the government.

273-274. "The Moral Power will be autonomous, independent and will investigate al acts against the public ethics." No action has ever been taken by the dishonest incumbents.

279. Details the mechanism of selection of the members of the Moral Power. This mechanism was not followed to name the current incumbents.

280. "The Ombudsman guarantees the Human Rights of citizens and protects them from all abuses of power by the State." The man in charge is rejected by Venezuelans due to his dishonesty and incompetence. He is called the Defender of the Job, not of the people.

281. "Attorney General guarantees that all Agreements and Treaties will be done in compliance of the Constitution." In the case of the Cuban oil agreement this article was violated.

282. "The National Comptroller will supervise national income and expenses and investigate all irregularities against the public patrimony, promoting actions against those irregularities." This man has not taken any action in cases of corruption which total millions of dollars.

283. This article describes the social and economic framework of the Nation. Reality is totally the opposite.

284. "The State will promote agricultural and animal production." But, in practice, the opposite is taking place due to illegal invasions of units of production.

285. "Tourism is an economic activity of national interest. The State will guarantee its development." I would laugh if I was not crying...

286. "Fiscal policy will be based on responsibility. All expenditures should be equal to ordinary income." However, 30% of the 2003 budget will come from new debt. Petroleum income is being used for the most ordinary of expenditures.

287. "Public debt will be limited to the capacity of absorption of the economy." The internal debt has increased five fold in less than 4 years. This is criminal.

288. "No expenses can be allowed except those already in the Budget Law." The violation of this article by Chavez has been systematic and should be enough to put him behind bars.

289. "Budget execution will be accounted for in detail before the National Assembly." This has never been done.

290. "The Central Bank is autonomous in formulating fiscal and monetary policy." In practice they do what Chavez tells them to do.

291. "The Central Bank can not finance fiscal deficits." But this is what they have been doing for the last two years.

292. Describes the Macroeconomic Stabilization Fund and how it operates. Article violated by Chavez several times.

293. "Border Security is top priority in National Security." But our borders have more holes than Gorgonzola cheese (or Gruyere if you prefer).

294. :The Armed Force is a professional, non-political body ... at the service of the Nation and not of a person or political group." However, Chavez says that his revolution is armed with tanks and bazookas and that the armed forces are with the revolution, a term which does not even exist in our Constitution.

Because of these multiple and criminal violations, Venezuelans have come to believe that they should follow Article 350 of the Constitution that says:

"The people of Venezuela will reject any regime, law or authority that violates democratic values or principles or tries to diminish their human rights."

We want this President out.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983. In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort. You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve