09) WHO IS BREAKING THE CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER IN VENEZUELA?
By Nino Pagliccia
Every time the Venezuelan “opposition” decides to make the government
responsible for the disorder they cause, they invariably invoke the "constitutional
order” being broken. The mainstream media obliges and repeats the same thing.
Or the MSM says it first and the “opposition” obliges with more violent
disorder.
The Canadian government, and more loudly the Conservative opposition in
Parliament, is doing exactly the same. They follow the incitement of an ad hoc
anti-Chavista “Venezuelan lobby” in
They invariably claim that the Venezuelan government breaks the constitution.
But with some exceptions that the Maduro government
has quickly rectified, [1] the Venezuelan constitution has been followed to the
letter. Chavistas will never break what they consider one of Chavez’ most important
legacies. They will respect it to the end. There will be room for
improvement but the essence will remain.
The “opposition” started with a (failed) coup in 2002 - nothing constitutional
about that. In fact, when the whole Bolivarian building was struck down immediately
by the “golpistas”, we never heard cries of a broken
constitutional order. In fact, the Venezuelan people (not the right-wing)
actually took on the task of restoring the constitutional order by reinstating
Chavez as the legitimate president.
Even when the far right opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD, in
Spanish) gained a majority in the National Assembly in the 2015 elections, they
did not stop there. They attempted to swear in three candidates who had
committed electoral fraud, forcing a constitutional breakdown by doing so.
There have been other acts of violence in 2004 and 2014 by right-wing
protesters in
The National Assembly controlled by the MUD coalition immediately accepted Almagro’s report, saying that “the Inter-American
Democratic Charter carried more legal weight than
This blatant call for foreign intervention encouraged social disorder in
Recently, at an international meeting with intellectuals in
Every action of violence by the “opposition” is not a “peaceful protest”; it is
a threat to the constitutional order that forces the government to a strong
reaction to quell the violence. Those actions are directly responsible for the
death of more than 40 Venezuelans, protesters as well as government supporters,
including soldiers of the Bolivarian National Police.
Many protesters were imprisoned for breaking the law and some are expected to
appear in a military court. The reaction has been immediate: why are civilians
being prosecuted in a military court, implying yet another unconstitutional
action by the government.
In fact, the reality is totally within the Venezuelan constitution.
Specifically, Article 261, which explains that the scope of jurisdiction,
organization and modalities of operation of the military criminal jurisdiction,
is governed by the justice system and in accordance with the provisions of the
Organic Code of Military Justice.
The Constitution of
That is the constitutional order, like it or not. It is no one else’s business
outside Venezuelans to question that. The OAS, the
In an open letter, the Communist Party of Venezuela warns, “These acts have
been accompanied by a national and international propaganda war which looks to
sow confusion and instigate confrontation between nations, creating a state of
chaos and violence which only favours a bloody
resolution of the political crisis, be it through a coup or a direct
intervention by North American imperialism and the international institutions
at its beck and call.” [5]
If the real opposition in
That should also be the goal of those who support the opposition if they really
care about
[1] The March 29
decision of the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (Supreme Court) to temporarily revoke the powers
of the Venezuelan National Assembly in response to the Assembly’s seating of
three opposition legislators accused of fraud. The TSJ mostly reversed its
decision on April 1.
[2] https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12997
[3] http://minci.gob.ve/2017/05/presidente-maduro-convoco-gran-dialogo-nacional-constituyente/
[4] https://mundo.sputniknews.com/americalatina/201705111069087557-venezuela-jurisdiccion-castrense/
[5] http://peoplesvoice.ca/2017/05/12/defeat-the-coup-against-the-bolivarian-republic/
(The
above article is from
the June 1-15, 2017, issue of People's