The National Assembly of Venezueladominated by the regime, voted unanimously on Thursday to approve a law that could impose disqualifications of up to 60 years to hold public office those who have expressed or supposedly expressed their support for the imposition of sanctions on the South American country.
The law contemplates the disqualification from holding public office for 60 years and run for elections, impeachment, confiscation of assets and trials in the absence of the accused. It also includes the opening of judicial proceedings against those who request or participate in “acts of aggression” with sentences of between 25 and 30 years in prison.
The call Liberator Simón Bolívar Law It is the most recent action of the regime Nicolas Maduro to block the political exercise of opponents and regulate everything from non-governmental organizations to social networks, after a controversial presidential election in July.
Currently, Venezuelan legislation has the maximum penalty 30 years in prison and in general, political disqualifications from seeking or holding public office tend to be 15 yearslawyers said.
The new legislation joins others approved by the Assembly such as one to supervise NGOs, amid reports of arbitrary arrests of opponents after the elections in which Maduro was proclaimed winner by the electoral authorities, despite alerts of irregularities. by organizations such as Carter Center y United Nations.
Radio and television media that broadcast advertising, propaganda or messages about sanctions will be sanctioned with the revocation of the concession, in accordance with what was stated in the text that was debated by the legislators.
A fine in bolivars equivalent to between 100,000 and 1 million times the highest exchange rate published by the Central Bank will be imposed on electronic and printed media, which would be about 49 million euros or about $51.7 million at the current official exchange rate.
The instrument will come into force after it is promulgated by Maduro and published in the Official Gazette. It will previously be sent to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, an entity close to the regime, to rule on its constitutionality, he indicated. Jorge Rodriguezpresident of the Assembly and close collaborator of Maduro.
The vote to approve the law comes after the US House of Representatives approved the so-called Bolívar Law, that would prohibit US government agencies from hiring people who have business dealings with the Maduro regime.
The Bolívar Law, which needs final approval by the United States Senate, has been described as “garbage” by Maduro.
The American project was presented by the representatives of Florida Mike Waltz, republican, and Debbie Wasserman SchultzDemocrat, who consider, in the words of the first, that the United States should “maintain the existing sanctions against the regime and seek to expand them to minimize Maduro’s resources to abuse the freedoms and prosperity of the Venezuelan people.”
Temporary bans on opposition politicians are common occurrences in Venezuela and the opposition leader Maria Corina Machado saw his 15-year ban from holding public office confirmed in January.
In your weekly program With Maduro +broadcast on the state channel VTVthe dictator indicated that the law establishes -said the president- “thick penalties” and will provide the institutions with “a legal-constitutional weapon to defend the right to peace, to the tranquility of Venezuela.”
The AN announced that it is contemplated to politically disqualify those who request other countries, “terrorist groups or associations”that impose economic sanctions against the Caribbean nation.
The Minister of the Interior and Justice of Venezuela, Diosdado Hairsaid this Wednesday that “there is not a single possibility” that the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia – exiled in Spain – returns to his country in January to be sworn in as head of state, which the anti-Chavista assures he will do, even if it leads to his eventual arrest.
“There is not a single possibility that Edmundo González will come to Venezuela to be sworn in, not one, not a single possibility“Cabello said during the broadcast of his weekly program on VTV.
Instead, he continued, on January 10 – the date established in the Constitution for the presidential inauguration – Nicolás Maduro, “will be sworn in” before the National Assembly, controlled by Chavismo.
The also first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) expressed that, if the candidate of the largest opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – returns to the country, he will deliver him “into his own hands.”s” a “gift” from the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (Cicpc), in reference to some handcuffs that he showed on the program.
“I want to give it to him in his own hands, as a gesture, (…) I have to verify that those bugs fit,” the minister said about the handcuffs, which were inside a transparent box with balloons and a card that said: “On the twenty-third anniversary of the Cicpc, our gift to Edmundo González Urrutia.”
The director of this police force, Douglas Rico, was present in the audience at the program, as well as several officials from that organization.
Last Monday, González Urrutia, in an interview with EFEhe said he is “morally prepared” for his eventual arrest if he returns to Caracas to assume the Presidency, and that he is committed to a peaceful transition in which Chavismo can find a space and Maduro himself can continue in the country.
The former ambassador, who arrived in Madrid in September to request political asylum after denouncing electoral fraud in his country, considers himself “the candidate who won the victory” and who “should take office,” for which they are, he stated, “prepared and working”.
Maduro was proclaimed the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE) based on results that it has not yet published in a breakdown, despite the fact that this was established in its schedule for these elections, while the PUD claims to have the 83.5% of the “minutes” of voting that grant – he insists – the victory, by a wide margin, to González Urrutia.
(With information from Reuters and AP)
