President defends AN government bench tactics to overcome legislative sabotage

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, June 08, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

President Hugo Chavez Frias has come out in support of the National Assembly (AN) pro-government bench, accusing the opposition of seeking violence and blood to prevent parliamentary sessions by threatening to take Parliament by storm and prevent sessions ... "the opposition is desperate and full of hatred." 

The President has defended the AN plenary session held at El Calvario last Friday that passed the controversial internal and debate procedure regulations, claiming that the opposition wanted to stage an institutional coup against parliament to avoid the passage of laws, such as media content law. 

10 deputies elected on the Presidential ticket were blasted as traitors for passing over to the opposition. 

The government bench that assembled on the steps of El Calvario after Thursday's stand-off with the opposition bench, drafted in 10 supply deputies to step in for those who had gone over to the other side ... 94 deputies turned up ensuring a majority to pass the regulations. 

The pro-government offensive has taken the opposition by surprise, since the tactic of boycotting sessions by walking out or other tactics had worked successfully up till now to bring in such bodies as the negotiations table and international facilitation efforts and check-mating parliamentary activity. 

The government accuses the opposition of failing to respect majority rule and thus, acting undemocratically, while the opposition retorts that the government bench is trying to steam-roller its political agenda on a minority opposition. The government scored another goal in solving a problem that has always plagued the Venezuelan parliamentary system, namely deputies elected on a political party ticket changing sides and remaining in Parliament. 

Government benches have always argued that such a deputy should leave parliament and hand over to a supply deputy placed by the party in government. 

At El Calvario, the following former MVR deputies were substituted for loyal party men; Ernesto Alvarenga ( Solidaridad),  Jose Luis Farias ( Solidaridad), Nelson Ventura ( Solidaridad), Alejandro Armas  ( Solidaridad),  Luis Salas ( OFM- Vamos), Rafael Simon Jimenez  ( OFM- Vamos), Leopoldo Puchi ( MAS),  Alberto Jordan Hernandez ( Transparencia Revolucionaria), Jess Narvaez  and Carlos Santafe.