ISSUES....
Inside,
confidential, off the record
Threats
in Venezuela
The Miami Herald
OUR OPINION: CHAVEZ'S ELECTION ABUSE VIOLATES DEMOCRATIC PREMISES
Imagine an election where government revenues are used to buy
campaign ads and government workers are threatened with dismissal
if they vote for the wrong candidate. These practices would be
illegal in any self-respecting democracy -- and they also violate
the very premise of free elections. Yet this is the heavy-handed
scenario that exists in Venezuela today.
This
evidence of President Hugo Chávez's abuse of power comes
only weeks before the Dec. 3 presidential election. A blurry video
provided by opposition members shows the head of the state oil
company, PDVSA, threatening workers at a meeting. ''Here we are
helping Chávez, who is our leader, who is the maximum leader
of this revolution,'' Rafael Ramírez says. "And we
are going to do all that we have to do in order to help our president.
And whoever doesn't feel comfortable with this idea should give
up his job.''
Afterward,
Mr. Chávez reinforced Mr. Ramírez's threat, noting
that other government workers, like the military, were revolutionary,
too. ''PDVSA workers are in the revolution, and whoever is not,
it's better they go somewhere else,'' Mr. Chavez said. "Let
them go to Miami.''
Mr.
Chávez already controls Venezuela's Supreme Court, National
Assembly and electoral council. He has sweeping power over Venezuela's
media. He is using all this power to secure an electoral victory
against opposition candidate Manuel Rosales.
While
it's not unusual for incumbents to use their power to win elections
in any country, Mr. Chávez has destroyed the institutions
that, in most democratic countries, act as a check on executive
abuse.
The
Organization of American States should take a close look at this
election. It isn't a free, fair or democratic process when the
opposition has no chance of winning.
This
Nov. 15, 2006, editorial from the Miami Herald is just a sample,
of what's going on in the Venezuelan elections.
Here
some more examples of the political climax reported by The
Devil's Excrement blog.
-
Nov 23, Reporters
from the Globovision TV station were violently removed by the
"Casa Militar", which protects the President, as they
were covering a protest by people asking for homes. Without crossing
words with the reporter, she and her camera man were physically
removed by three soldiers. This incident took place in front of
the La Casona presidential residence where Chavez does not live.
-
Nov 23, In a somewhat puzzling decision for what is considered
to be a democracy, the Minister of Interior and Justice issued
a resolution prohibiting "meetings, public demonstrations,
concentrations of people and any "similar" act that
may affect the normal development of the vote". This means
that if, for example, the audits were not conducted as established
by the CNE, anyone trying to protest it, could be jailed. Similarly,
since the resolution expires at midnight on Dec. 3d., if a winner
were announced, his supporters would not be able to celebrate.
One has to wonder what is the purpose of this resolution which
is in clear violation of the Venezuela Constitution. Primero Justicia
has already protested the decision and said it would not be obeyed.
A Caracas newspaper also reported that the CNE would ban exit
polls.
ISSUES....
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