[NYTr] Venez: Differences and Debate over Constitutional Reform

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Venezuelanalysis - August 22, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2395

Venezuela:

Differences among Chavez Supporters over Constitutional Reforms 

By Kiraz Janicke

Caracas ? The Venezuelan political party Podemos distanced itself
yesterday from comments made over the weekend by Ramon Martinez, the
Podemos Governor of the state of Sucre, who called for an alliance of
governors and mayors to ?defend regional autonomy? against President
Chavez?s plan for a ?new geometry of power.?

Chavez?s proposal would allow for the creation, through popular
referendum, of ?federal districts? in specific areas, which could then
be categorized as states. The proposals would also allow for the
appointment of various regional vice-presidents and the recognition of
the social missions as alternative administrations to bypass the old
bureaucratic institutions. During his announcement to the National
Assembly on August 15, Chavez argued that these changes are
necessary ?to remove the old oligarchic, exploiter hegemony, the old
society, and, in the words of Gramsci, to weaken the old ?historic
block.??

Chavez also warned against ?regionalism,? which he described as
a ?dogma, that impedes change,? and, he continued, ?we can not accept
situations that create Caudillos.?

In response Martinez said that he is opposed to any territorial
alteration of the State of Sucre and in an interview in the August 19
edition of El Nacional claimed that ?Ramoncismo [a reference to
Martinez? first name] is much stronger than Chavismo,? in the streets
of Sucre.

Martinez continued, ?Not only are we in defense of regional autonomy,
but of the constitution.? He also said, ?In this struggle, I am
accompanied by more than 46 mayors throughout the country. I?m not
going to give you more details of the plan. I am the only one sticking
out my nose.?

Podemos deputy in the National Assembly Ricardo Guitierrez clarified
that the party did not support the comments of the Governor of
Sucre. ?This is an attitude in which the governor and president of the
party Ramon Martinez runs with his own colors. We have discussed our
position over the weekend and we will express them in the National
Assembly during the first discussion of the project to reform the
constitution [today].?

However, Guitierrez conceded Podemos does have differences over the
proposed geopolitical reorganization of the country.

Venezuelan opposition parties argue that the ?new geometry of power?
would centralize power in the executive and weaken governorships,
however Chavez argues the aim is to transfer power to the people.
During an inauguration of a Children?s Cardiology Hospital yesterday,
Chavez declared, ?I am not an enemy of decentralization.? Rather, he
argued, he is an enemy of the ?bureaucratic, corrupt state.?

Podemos, which describes itself as a ?social democratic? party,
declined to dissolve itself earlier this year to become part of the new
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and has since replaced
Accion Democratica as the Venezuelan representative of the Socialist
International, an international alliance of ?social democratic?
parties, including the British Labour Party, the Australian Labour
Party, the Socialist Parties of France and Spain, among others.

Patria Para Todas (PPT), another Chavez-aligned party that also
declined to become part of the PSUV, is organizing 3,000 open forums
all around the country to discuss the proposed constitutional reforms.
Jose Albornoz, a PPT Deputy in the National Assembly, said that while
the PPT maintained some differences with the proposal of the president,
on the question of reelection, they supported the removal of the
two-term limit, which would allow Chavez to stand for reelection in
2012. However, they argued that this should apply to all publicly
elected positions.

Geronimo Carrera, president of the Venezuelan Communist Party (the
third Chavez-aligned party which declined to be part of the PSUV), was
quoted as saying in the daily newspaper El Nacional (August 18), ?The
country is tired of constitutions.? The solutions to the social
problems Venezuela faces are more pressing than constitutional reform,
he argued, ?It is not a legal problem, but one of planning.?

Carrera also said that Chavez defended private property in his
proposal, ?because he is a politician, he prioritized tactics over
principles,? he continued, ?In a revolutionary change? you cannot
permit coexistence with private property.?