Maduro attempts to stave off slow political death in Venezuela

Beatriz Beiras

 

 

In Venezuela the trial of strength between Nicolás Maduro and his enemies has lasted eight months, ever since the opposition seized a parliamentary majority for the first time in 16 years.

 

It commands a two-thirds majority with 112 members of parliament, and intends to impose its agenda and its policies. That will include an amnesty law and more, according to the Congress’ president.

 

“We are looking for, in a six-month period starting today, a constitutional, democratic, peaceful and electoral way out in order to put an end to this government,” said the newly-sworn-in Congressional President Henry Ramos.

 

In March the opposition launched two thrusts to get Maduro out of office; a constitutional modification to shorten his six-year-term to four, and a recall referendum.

 

Maduro has also taken several initiatives of his own in a bid to reverse a rapidly deteriorating economic situation.

 

Following approval from the National Electoral Commission, (NEC), the opposition began to collect signatures for the recall referendum.

 

But obtaining such a recall in Venezuela is very hard and the opposition has a limited time frame in which to conclude a long, drawn-out process because the constitution says any recall has to take place in the middle of a presidential mandate. In Maduro’s case that is next January.

 

The first step to getting a recall referendum was to collect 195,000 signatures, or one percent of the registered electorate.

 

On June 8th that target was more than met with the NEC validating 1.3 million signatures.

 

On May 13 President Maduro declared a state of economic emergency to protect the country against what he called “exterior threats” and “sabotage within”. He called for factories to be seized.

 

For its part the opposition pressed forward with the recall referendum, whose second step involved signatories personally verifying their recall signatures. By law 200,000 were required. At the start of August the NEC said nearly twice as many had been validated.

 

However, in August the National Electoral Commission announced that the third and final stage would take place only in late October.

 

The last requirement of the process is the collection of four million signatures, representing 20 percent of the electorate, in four days.

 

The timings are important because the referendum must take place before 10 January 2017 to trigger early elections in the event of the President being recalled, if not his vice president will assume the role until the end of the mandate.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-09-03

chavez set a ticking time bomb. his brother is now sitting on it.

There is an old expression in Venezuela that goes like this:

 

"There is no good presidents or bad ones." "There is only presidents with high oil prices and low ones."

 

Venezuela Economy depends a lot on Oil Exports. When prices are high they have more money to spend on the people and when it is low they have less. 

So, I'll frame my comments in as a free market Hispanic American who happens to have family in Venezuela.

 

The country is suffering the very predictable outcome of Chavez's policies. He essentially destroyed domestic food production through his nationalization and price control policies, which was OK so long as the oil price stayed up and they could import the food, and more importantly pay with petro $.

 

When then that house of cards collapsed with the oil price, so did the rest of the fictitious economy

 

Socialism always works when there is a 'free' income stream, in Venezuela case oil, but it all implodes when said income declines

 

Edited September 3, 201610 yr by GinBoy2

7 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

Socialism always works when there is a 'free' income stream, in Venezuela case oil, sort of implodes when said income declines

 

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
― Margaret Thatcher

 

Another anti-USA regime gone down the crapper. The mass of Venezuelans have had it with the promises of the vacuous left down there.

 

The gang being thrown out had been tightly intertwined with the now defunct Brics. Argentina had also been aligned with Venezuela and the now kaput Brics, until recent elections finally threw the bums out there after a couple of (boldly defiant) debt defaults that made Greece look prudent.

 

From Cuba to South America the anti-USA gangs are getting tossed, Venezuela being the most prominent of 'em at the center of it.  The hardly noticed leftists in Nicaragua getting the bum's rush while Hillary Clinton was SecState demonstrated how this was coming. Russia and China are screwed, CCP in Beijing especially.

Socialism never works except for the upper echelon. Chavez's Daughter is now the richest person in Venezuela. OOPs, how did that happen? Wasn't Chavez a Bus Driver?