Caracas Chronicles

For Thursday, August 11, 2016. Translated by Javier Liendo.

Former lawmaker Elvis Amoroso, who is only a Supreme Tribunal justice because he failed to get re-elected to the A.N., read this Wednesday a statement issued by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, where they declare their support for the chavista constituyentes of 1999. Ignore those who changed allegiances, those who hold other public offices, those who are already justices and the dead, because chavismo would never use a dead man -nor a terminally ill patient- to advance their political purposes, that would be an inexcusable historical fraud. The visit of these exalted characters is part of a tour that will be called the first of its kind by government outlets, because assuming a series of events accelerate the National Assembly’s dissolution, it’s imperative to have figures who could deserve to occupy those seats, in defense of the National Constitution’s original spirit.

The writer of the statement obviously didn’t know Amoroso would read it, because with some reading comprehension problems, he ended up saying things like: “We condemn National Assembly’s unconstitutional actions (…) they’ve been approving laws which have been deemed unconstitutional by the Executive Branch (…) the usurpation of authority could be a danger that could cripple Venezuela’s political power and even its very integrity.” The constituyentes, accompanied by the ornamental vice-president, Aristóbulo Istúriz, presented their tour’s schedule to TSJ chief Gladys Gutiérrez, but they have a more ostentatious name for it, because beside visiting their natural environment, they also hope to meet with Luis Almagro, Ban Ki-moon and some representative of the Vatican, in case they can’t meet with Pope Francis himself. When the upcoming press release mentions that the constituyentes will advise Nicolás “in every decision he makes to fight against oligarchy and imperialism,” I doubt anyone will meet with them. But keep it up, boys.

To the CNE this Thursday

The second point of this tour is the National Electoral Council and coincidentally, all the rectoras finished issuing their statements this Wednesday. The first one was Tania D’Amelio, who said a week ago that the MUD lied to people by creating false hopes. Socorro Hernández spoke this Monday about the possibility for the Democratic Unity Roundtable to be invalidated by the TSJ. This Tuesday, it was Tibisay Lucena’s turn; only Sandra Oblitas remained, and she simply repeated the messages of her office -and party- colleagues, saying that they won’t bend to political pressure, even though their whole campaign proves exactly otherwise. Oblitas emphasized that she was confused by rector Luis Rondón’s attitude, because they’ve operated according to the periods established by law as guarantors of the country’s democratic peace. Isn’t she cute?

Ban spoke

As Nicolás and Delcy were getting ready to receive the ambassadors’ credential letters in Miraflores, UN SecGen Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern for Venezuela’s situation, saying what the government denies: this is a humanitarian crisis in which basic needs can’t be covered; understanding political instability as one of the causes for the crisis, and confirming the UN’s willingness to help. Ban Ki-moon hopes that the region’s support and the imaginary dialogue, will produce positive results, such as recovering political stability. Go ahead, Delcy, accuse him of meddling.

What’s being said abroad

AN deputy Luis Florido travelled to Washington to denounce the constitutional violation committed by the CNE’s rectoras before the Organization of American States. He’ll meet this Thursday with OAS head, Luis Almagro. But this Wednesday, Argentine president Mauricio Macri expressed his concern for the tension that shakes Mercosur due to Venezuela’s stance: “We believe that they haven’t fulfilled the procedures they should’ve carried out to be full members of Mercosur. It’s been four years, that invalidates the membership. We don’t support them to assume the organization’s leadership during these next six months,” he said.

Additionally, five caucuses of Peru’s Congress presented a motion that requests the government to take action to protect their citizens in Venezuela, and proposed before the OAS, the creation of a mission to visit the country to promote dialogue and a solution for the crisis. Peruvian lawmaker Carlos Bruce applauded the diversity of parliamentarians who support the idea to assume the defense of democracy in Venezuela and express their profound concern about the political and humanitarian crisis we’re going through, adding that this is a central matter that affects all American nations, as Venezuela experiences a situation of national emergency.

Changing two

Legislator Julio Borges said this Wednesday that the process to appoint new Electoral Branch authorities will star this week: “The nominations committee to appoint new officials will open this Thursday (…) we’ll have a total renewal of the country’s top electoral institution in November,” adding that this committee will be constituted by eleven deputies from all parties. Socorro Hernández’ and Tania D’Amelio’s term ends on December 3rd. Everyone who commented on this subject considered that this plan is improbable to work, because if the TSJ believes the National Assembly to be in contempt, they will nullify this decision.

Parliament also approved -with only opposition votes- a law to restrict the Executive Branch’s power to manage the country’s mineral resources, stating that all decisions on the matter must be consulted with the National Assembly. There weren’t good arguments against the “Law that reserves to the State all activities of exploration and exploitation of gold and other strategic minerals.” Chavismo has decided to protect itself in the unconstitutionality of every legislative act since Amazonas’ deputies were reinstated. Only Asdrúbal Chávez said that the law is proof of how Parliament wants to hinder Nicolás’ efforts to end the economic war and that, actually, the AN just wants companies to pay a tax to be able to perform mining exploitation. That’s called projection.

Legislate for the future

Amnesty International Venezuela requested the National Assembly to enact a code to guarantee that the judicial system has laws to allow those responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity to be tried. These crimes include persecution for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender issues; slavery, population displacement, forced prostitution or apartheid. The project, called “International Criminal Law Code,” would be founded in the application of the Rome Statute, a constituent element of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, so that elements specified in the Statute are reflected in Venezuelan’s internal law, and all international cooperation mechanisms necessary are put into place for true international justice. It’ll come in handy in the near future.