First a poem, now an Oscar!

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, March 28, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: Writing for Vheadline.com has given me dividends I never imagined. <a href=www.vheadline.com>Ms. Onefeather wrote a poem about one of my articles which I will treasure always. And now I get <a href=www.vheadline.com>an Oscar for my article on the Venezuelan Constitution!

I will not go into a detailed reply of Oscar's comments because I am sure that our readers will have arrived, by now, to their own conclusions about their merits ... there are just a few points which need additional precisions.

First of all, the title: Desperate last-ditch is both redundant and inaccurate. Last-ditch means desperate, no need for repetition. My article is not desperate but just the contribution of a Venezuelan citizen to unmask the hypocrisy of the President, who pays lip service to the Constitution while violating it almost every day. This is so obvious now that only the blind fails to see it. Also inaccurate is "attempt at discrediting Chavez..."  Dear friend: Chavez and his group do not need anyone's attempting to do this ... they have been doing a great job themselves.

My article did not pretend to be a "study" ... I said that I just read the Constitution, and compared my reading of it with what the President and his group are doing.  And, I repeat, is tragically obvious...

The Constitution can not be a document of intent. It is the supreme law of the Nation. I mentioned, specifically, many articles that can not be fulfilled, completely unrealistic.

When you ask the impossible, violations will be inevitable.

So, I said that the legislators were irresponsible to ask for the impossible. I hope this is not too hard to understand.

The explanations bravely attempted by Oscar for this major weakness do not require my comments. I also said that there are many other articles which can be fulfilled and are being violated.

Oscar pretends to absolve Chavez from many of those violations to the Constitution on the grounds that this was also done before by others...

Totally unacceptable.

The Colombian guerrillas have camps in several places within Venezuela territory, along the Perija mountain range in the State of Tachira, which borders with Colombia and in the State of Barinas, where the President comes from.

Frankly, the only thing they have not done yet is to call a press conference to advertise their presence. In the case of Carlos Fernandez, this gentleman was taken by a group of secret police without a judicial order and without the representative of the Attorney General Office being present. He was incommunicado for about 10 hours ... which represents a clear violation of his Constitutional rights. Why do I say this, you ask?  Because it is the truth, that is why ... the news which was broadcast by Globovision clearly said that no one knew where Fernandez was.

So, somebody is not telling the truth here.

In the case of the break-in at POLAR by the burping General, I know what I saw and heard. When asked by the female reporter if he had a judicial order, this fat Rambo said: "I do not need one ... I have direct instructions from the President."  This reckless statement was denied by Vice president Rangel, but my guess is that Chavez told him to go ahead. Acosta (Carles is his mother's name) did not hit the woman himself, but his assistant did. Why was she hit, you ask?  Is there a good reason why a woman should be hit? Have you been talking to Mike Tyson?

As far as telephone conversations are concerned, you demand proof. Since you do not live here all the time, you miss a lot of what is going on. Ortega's telephone conversation with Carlos Andres Perez about the need for a national strike was played days on end on the government television station. A conversation between Carrero (a former Chavez crony now in disgrace) and a judge about "twisting the arm" of some other judge, was also given publicity ... there are many other examples ... but I think you will be satisfied with these two.

You surprise me when you say that Chavez is entitled to his opinion, even if this entails slander. You worry me by saying that the President can go public accusing citizens of being criminals without having any proof, violating article 49 of the Constitution with great impunity and with obvious hate in his voice. He is the criminal, not the citizens he accuses. Hitler also had "opinions" about the Jews.

When you say that extortion in military and immigration control points have gone on for years, I can not accept this as an excuse for keeping doing it, under a government which was supposed to correct the vices of the past.

If this government is as corrupt as the previous ones, or more so, what kind of a "revolution" are you supporting?

The topic is endless, and I feel very confident that future governments will hold Chavez responsible for many grave violations of the Constitution which he carries in his pocket everywhere he goes. Chavez also carries a cross without being very spiritually inclined.

Oscar, your efforts at defending Mr. Chavez are commendable, and I wish you good luck in the future in your "mission impossible."

All I can say is: Oscar, Oscar, Oscar...

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