Caracas Chronicles

During his last public interview of the campaign, the comandante presidente hinted at the idea of creating a new Ministry dedicated to somehow controlling the Chavernment, as he admitted that he has made mistakes during his tenure, and that oversight is not his strong suit.

After his victory on October 7th, he decided to implement that idea and announced the change of the President’s Office Ministry (a cabinet post similar to the Brazil’s Casa Civil) into the Ministry of Oversight and Control.

Days later, he backtracked a little bit on the idea, and now the Ministry will retain the day-to-day activities of the executive office. This will diminish the role of the new half-ministry.

For the task, a military woman was chosen. Carmen Meléndez was recently promoted as the first-ever female Admiral of the Venezuelan Navy, and her previous post was Vice-Minister of Military Education. Her role will be in part being Chavez’s chief of staff. I can guess she won’t have much time to oversee the Chavernment’s work.

It’s really hard to believe that a new half-ministry will now bring order to the Chavernment’s love of waste. Reuters’ report on Fonden is just the tip of the iceberg.

Beside that, this ministry undermines the role of the empty Comptroller’s Office, which is the one with the constitutional mandate of making the government accountable.

I’m very skeptic of all this “efficency” agenda promoted by Chávez. In my view, this is D.O.A. even before it even started.