[NYTr] Chavez Reforms Move Forward, Bolivian Oppos'n Battles Alliance

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

excerpted from VIO Venezuelan Daily News Roundup - Sep 12, 2007


[According to the BBC, Venezuela's national assembly will soon meet to
discuss President Chavez' proposed reforms to the constitution.  This
will mark the second of three debates which must occur in the national
assembly before the reforms can be approved and passed on to the
general public for a national referendum vote, slated for December.
This second round of debates comes shortly after opposition leaders
expressed their opinions in front of the assembly Tuesday.  Opposition
political parties Democratic Action (AD), Movement towards Socialism
(MAS) and Justice First, voiced their concerns including a suggestion
to allow the electorate to vote on each suggested reform individually
rather than all at once. Cilia Flores, President of the National
Assembly stated that they would take their suggestions into
consideration as well as proposals from other sectors of society such
as lowering the voting age from 18 years to 16 years and removing any
discrimination against homosexuality in the constitution, according to
Venezuelanalysis.com. 

In an opposition stronghold of Bolivia, civic groups have rejected a
recent agreement between Bolivia and Venezuela entered into for joint
control of an iron ore mine, reported El Universal yesterday.
President Morales signed a letter of intent during his visit to
Venezuela last weekend which would allow exploration and exploitation
of 50% of one of the largest iron mines in South America, located in
Bolivia.-VIO]

                           ***

BBC News - Sep 11, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6989788.stm

Chavez Reforms Up Before Assembly  

Venezuela's national assembly is due to meet for a second time to
discuss changes to the constitution that aim to make the country more
socialist. President Hugo Chavez has proposed a series of reforms that
he says will give more power to the people. 

His critics say they are a thinly veiled attempt to concentrate power. 

Once the assembly, which is dominated by Mr Chavez's supporters, agrees
on a final draft of the reforms, it will be put to a national
referendum. 

The assembly, where all seats are held by pro-Chavez parties as a
result of an opposition election boycott in 2005, is planning to hold
one more sitting after this one to discuss the issues. 

Among the main changes to the constitution proposed by Mr Chavez last
month were: 

Removing term limits for the presidency, and extending the term of
office from six years to seven 

Bringing in a maximum six-hour working day 

Increasing presidential control over the central bank 

Strengthening state economic powers, allowing the government to control
assets of private companies before a court grants an expropriation
order.

Mr Chavez is also giving a formal role to what he calls "people power",
says the BBC's James Ingham in Caracas. 

Community councils will be able to apply to the president's commissions
for funds and manage those funds themselves for projects that they
believe are important. 

Collective property will also be recognised within community groups and
cooperatives will play more of a role in the economy. 

Re-election 

Opponents have voiced concern at reforms which they say are forcing
everyone into one way of doing things. 

Mr Chavez's critics are also against the change to a number of terms a
president can serve. 

Current rules mean Mr Chavez is unable to seek re-election and will
have to step down when his term ends in 2012. 

After being overwhelmingly re-elected last year, Mr Chavez has pushed
for key changes to bring about what he calls a 21st Century socialist
revolution. 

The opposition has questioned the president's intentions, arguing a new
constitution is not needed as the current one was only drafted eight
years ago. 

Nevertheless, recent opinion polls suggest Mr Chavez is likely to win a
referendum on his proposed reforms. 

                             ***

Venezuelanalysis - Sep 11, 2007
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2416

Venezuelan Opposition Invited to National Assembly to Debate
Constitutional Reform 

By Kiraz Janicke

Caracas, September 11, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Leaders from
Venezuelan opposition parties Democratic Action (AD), Movement towards
Socialism (MAS) and Justice First, were received in the Venezuelan
National Assembly yesterday to present their views on President Hugo
Chavez's proposed constitutional reforms. 

Secretary General of the opposition party Acción Democrática
(Democratic Action), Henry Ramos Allup, said that he did not have a
counter proposal, but would give a critical opinion. Questioning the
changes that would define Venezuela as a "socialist" country, he argued
that this would "kill pluralism" and said he was also opposed to any
changes to the structure of the military. 

Julio Borges from Justice First said he was concerned about changes
that would recognize along with private property other forms of
property such as, collective, communal, and social property and argued
in particular that it should be clarified that private property is a
"right." 

In reference to proposed changes to article 16, which Chavez has said
will produce a "new geometry of power," aimed at transferring power to
the people, Nicolas Sosa from MAS argued, "The deepest worry than we
have is that the proposal disposes itself toward the creation of a
parallel state." Borges agreed and said that the expenditure of public
funds should be administered by the currently existing public
institutions. 

The three opposition leaders were united in their rejection of the
proposal that would allow Chavez to stand for reelection in 2012, when
his current term ends. However, in a televised debate later that day
between pro-Chavez deputy Carlos Escarrá and Borges, on state owned
channel VTV, Escarrá argued that the opposition is opposed to this
change simply because they don't have a candidate with as much popular
support as Chavez. 

Although the opposition parties are united against the reforms, they
are divided as to what strategy to adopt, with some arguing for a
boycott and others arguing for a "no" vote. Due to an opposition
boycott of the parliamentary elections in December 2005, candidates
from various pro-Chavez parties won all of the seats in the National
Assembly, meaning that it is likely that the constitutional reforms
will easily win the approval of the minimum 75% of National Assembly
deputies required before they can be put to a referendum. 

During the debate with Escarrá, Borges said, "I believe that the
boycott of those elections was an extraordinarily gigantic error, I was
opposed to this, the country knows it, I went to vote, it seems absurd
that after having made that gesture [the boycott], they go to speak
there." 

He argued that unlike Justice First, the decision of opposition
political parties AD and MAS to speak in the National Assembly was
contradictory in view of their support for the boycott of the
parliamentary elections in 2005. Borges added that Justice First would
be participating in the referendum and arguing for the reforms to be
voted on "article by article," so that people can choose those sections
of the proposal they support and those they don't, for instance he
argued, he supported the proposal to reduce the working day to six
hours. 

However, Allup said to Union Radio that his decision to speak in the
National Assembly did not mean he recognized the legitimacy of the
government and defended the opposition boycott in 2005, arguing "there
is a sector [of the opposition] that is being obsequious to the
government." 

Allup said that AD would assume a critical position towards the
proposed constitutional reforms, but would not call for abstention or
participation in the constitutional referendum. Rather, he said people
should decide for themselves whether to abstain or vote. Allup
explained that if AD took a decision in favor or against abstention,
there would be sectors of the opposition that would disagree, and "that
would do a lot of damage to the necessary unity of the opposition." 

National Assembly president Cilia Flores assured, "We listened to the
views they formulated" and said that they would be taken into account,
"jointly with other proposals of the different sectors of the country,
to serve us for the debate on the project of reform." However, she
added that the opposition leaders "obey a vision of the country that we
respect but do not share." 

Flores affirmed that the National Assembly would raise with Chavez the
proposal to include two further changes to the project of
constitutional reform, one which would lower the voting age from
18years to 16 years and the second which would remove any
discrimination against homosexuality in the constitution. This
proposal, she said, was "viable because it was oriented towards
removing discrimination and was a fundamental right in Venezuela or any
other part of the world." 

Escarrá declared that the National Assembly had shown a "broad and
deep, democratic essence" during the debate over the constitutional
reform. "All sectors have been received, in the plenary sessions space
for students, campesinos, have been opened," he said. 

"The deputies have been in open forums in the streets, reporting on the
Constitutional Reform," he added. 

                              ***

El Universal - Sep 11, 2007
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/09/11/en_pol_art_bolivia-venezuela-ag_11A1009519.shtml 

Bolivia-Venezuela agreement under fire

Civic groups in eastern Bolivian region of Santa Cruz, where Mutún
deposit is located, harshly rejected an agreement Bolivian and
Venezuelan presidents Evo Morales and Hugo Chávez, respectively,
entered into for joint exploitation of such iron ore mine.

"Venezuelans cannot come to Bolivia and do whatever they want to," told
Efe Luis Núñez, the vice-president of the civic committee of Santa
Cruz, a body with a great influence in eastern Bolivia, a region
dominated by Morales' opponents.

"There are laws and regulations that must be met," Núñez claimed,
adding that the correct thing to do was opening an international
bidding process.

During his visit to Venezuela last weekend, Morales initialed with
Chávez a letter of intent to organize a joint venture to explore and
exploit 50 percent of iron ore in Mutún -one the largest iron mines in
South America.

"The government has a duty to ensure investments," Morales said Monday
during a news conference in La Paz.

Núñez, however, said that Venezuela entered into this agreement for
"doing business," while "meddling" into the Bolivian domestic affairs. 

"Morales' move is unilateral, and Bolivians deserve some respect," told
Efe the chair of civic committee Puerto Suárez, 45 kilometers from
Mutún.

Gericke claims that, before initialing the letter of intent with
Chávez, Morales should have asked social sectors, rather than acting
like a "puppet" of his Venezuelan ally.