Venezuela attacks corruption, cuts fuel subsidies.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
Over the past two years, after several announcements about merely cosmetic modifications to economic policy and successive currency devaluation decrees, the Venezuelan government finally decided to address two major issues the opposition has talked about for a long time: the fight against corruption, rampant in all areas of the government, and the elimination of fuel subsidies.
Opposition proposes amnesty for its leaders
The changes came three months after the government of President Nicolas Maduro suffered a decisive defeat in legislative elections at the hands of the opposition coalition Mesa de la Unidad Democratica (MUD) last December (NotiSur, Nov. 20, 2015, and Jan. 8, 2016). The announcements were made a day after opposition representatives in the National Assembly voted for an amnesty law that would benefit several of its leaders, and while they analyzed possible options to precipitate the end of Maduro's' constitutional term. The amnesty law was one of the opposition's campaign proposals during the December legislative elections. Two thirds of the votes in the National Assembly were necessary to approve the proposal, and with that goal reached, there was a general vote on Feb. 16--the "first discussion"--of the so-called Law of National Amnesty and Reconciliation.
The law would free Leopoldo Lopez, leader of the right-wing Voluntad Popular party, former mayors Antonio Ledezma and Daniel Ceballos, and several student activists. All have been convicted of instigating "La Salida" ("The Exit"), a campaign aimed at bringing down Maduro with violent street demonstrations that took place between January and May of 2014 (NotiSur, Feb. 21, 2014, April 4, 2014, and July 25, 2014). Those demonstrations resulted in 43 deaths and generated much damage to the urban infrastructure. If finally enacted, the law would also protect those responsible for the Feb. 25, 2003, bombing of the Spanish Embassy and the Colombian consulate in Caracas, in which several people were wounded, and it would exonerate Pedro Carmona, former president of the business organization FEDECAMARAS. In April 2002, Carmona occupied the presidency during the 47 hours of an unsuccessful coup against late President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) (NotiSur, April 19, 2002).
Several independent analysts agree with the government that the opposition lost its only chance of ultimate success when it submitted a hastily written bill, without taking care of some aspects that, according to the...
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