Stop assuming that opponents support monumental violation of democratic principles
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Monday, June 09, 2003 By: Luis Zuleta
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:35:59 -0300 From: Luis Zuleta luiszuleta@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: The constitution DOES NOT state
Dear Editor: I'm reading Mr. Roy S. Carson's article "Come in Houston ... opposition PR has a problem understanding democracy" and two things stand out.
1 - He claims that the Venezuelan opposition is paranoid by making certain assumptions about the government's willingness to allow (or not to block) a referendum on Mr. Chavez' mandate. As much as I agree that the opposition (and anyone for that matter) would be wrong to ignore the constitution or even think about going over it in order to remove Mr. Chavez, I'm wondering why he thinks the "Venezuelan Community Abroad" goes into an "extraterrestrial trajectory" in their statement. When reading the statement by the VCA, even those paragraphs carefully chosen by Mr. Carson to distort the meaning and context of it, it seems to me that the VCA is expressing concerns based on the fact that, as of today, the mechanism to allow the referendum is not in place. By this I mean, there is no electoral council (CNE) and the existence of that CNE depends largely (make that fully) on the willingness of the still government-controlled National Assembly to DO THEIR JOBS and select one. Those concerns seem well founded since Mr. Ameliach continues to call on permanent or urgent sessions to discuss anything the Chavez' faction can come up with or put on a public spectacle like it happened last Friday except to determine the members of the new CNE.
The concerns of the VCA about the impossibility to have an early Presidential election, if the recall doesn't succeed before Mr. Chavez enters the last two years of his mandate, is actually founded in the fact that the recall could be affected by the government's intent through the National Assembly to delay it as much as possible (based on their actions) by not designating a CNE in time to make it happen. If this is the case, and evidence points in that direction, then there is a big problem, since the constitution would not allow taking this into account and making the necessary adjustments. If the recall does not take place in time because the government blocks the election of the CNE, denies funding, or any other maneuver, then it should be the Supreme Court's job to intervene ... but wait there is a law being pushed by the government to increase the number of justices by 10 and therefore regain control of the TSJ. See a trend here?
The constitution DOES NOT state that a recall referendum's process begins after August 19 ... it was the TSJ. The constitution states that a recall can take place at the midpoint of the term, but it is the TSJ who determines that midpoint. See the concern now? The VCA does not seem to be calling on the international community to punish Mr. Chavez for something he might do or might not do ... they seem to be calling on the international community to continue their role as an impartial arbitrator to guarantee BOTH SIDES that the agreement will be fulfilled.
That to me IS understanding democracy.
2 - Every time someone writes about Mr. Chavez and his little coup in 1992, everyone supporting this man (or "objective" writers simply telling it like it is) go crazy and complain about how that cannot justify what happened in April, which is true. But, I'm wondering why Mr. Carson and everyone else writing about the Venezuelan situation continuously feels the need to "remind" anyone not supporting Mr. Chavez about "Dictator for a day" Mr. Carmona, basically assuming that everyone opposing Mr. Chavez back then supported him in his attempt to undermine democracy, or that anyone opposing Mr. Chavez today still does support what this man did.
Over one year after those unfortunate events (those of Mr. Carmona, not of the people fighting for their cause) I think is time to drop that once and for all, and to stop assuming that ANYONE opposing Mr. Chavez was supporting that monumental violation of democratic principles.
Best Regards, Luis Zuleta luiszuleta@hotmail.com