Oh, why stop at just one year…?~CAJ
Fabiola Sanchez
Associated Press
via Yahoo! News
12/15/2010
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday asked congress to grant him special powers to enact laws by decree for one year, just before a new legislature takes office with a larger contingent of opposition lawmakers.
The measure would give the president the ability to bypass the National Assembly for the fourth time since he was first elected almost 12 years ago.
Vice President Elias Jaua made the request on Chavez’s behalf, saying the president will use the authorization to ensure fast-track approval of laws aimed at helping the nation recover from severe flooding and mudslides that left thousands homeless and in government shelters.
“The measures we have to take are deep. Almost 40 percent of the country was affected” by the heavy rains, Jaua said.
It is expected to win easy approval in the outgoing legislature dominated by Chavez allies.
Chavez’s opponents accuse him of using the natural disaster to impose socialist-inspired measures and undermine the power of newly elected opposition lawmakers.
Hundreds of Chavez opponents protested outside the legislature Tuesday, saying Chavez is violating democratic principles and objecting to other planned laws that could impose regulations on the Internet and endanger Globovision, the country’s last stridently anti-Chavez television channel… [emphasis CAJ]
Read the rest at Yahoo! News.
