VENEZUELA: VOTES WILL NOT MAKE THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM LEGAL

Democracy is not a one size fits all kind of concept. There are many kinds of democracy. There are Monarchical Democracies, Parliamentary Democracies and even Imperial Democracies such as the Japanese. Since 1999 we also have a Bolivarian Democracy. All of these democracies though share one same characteristic; they are all Republican Constitutional Democracies.

In a lighter note you could say that they are different kinds of “Arepas” (Reina Pepiada, Carne Mechada, Queso de Mano, etc.) but they are all “Arepas”.

There are also Popular Democracies (Cuba) and I would even venture and say that we now have what could be considered Religious Democracies such as Iran. They also hold elections but they are completely different systems of government.

These democracies are not “Arepas”; they are “Tortillas”; and, while both are made of corn flour, millions of Mexicans and Venezuelans can attest to the fact that they are absolutely different.

VENEZUELA: COUP D' ÉTAT TO THE FEDERAL SYSTEM

In the last couple months I have been collaborating with the blog "Venezuela News & Views". The editor of this blog, Daniel Duquenal, had the idea to invite his readers to write comments on the modifications to each and every article of the ill conceived constitutional reform being proposed by the government.

Venezuela is at the brink of becoming a totalitarian country under the Presidency of a tyrant who wants to stay in power for life. I can not think of any other issue in Latin America that is more important than this one and therefore I offered Daniel to write comments to the modifications being proposed to Articles 11, 16 and 18.

The following are the comments I wrote and the dramatic conclusions I have reached.

Article 18

Preamble: While reading the text of the proposed amendment to article 18 I remembered a conversation once held with the elected President of a Latin American country who is now deceased. We talked about the sad role of some armed forces in Latin America and how they have become the nemesis of democracy and individual freedoms and in many cases the “jail keepers” of their people. He said that while the armed forces have a congenital tendency to misread the social and political expectations of the people and therefore, most of the time, end up in the wrong side of history, the good thing is that they are slow.

He liked to say that most people believe that bullets kill people when in fact they don’t. If I put a bunch of bullets in your hand they will not kill you. It is the combination of factors and “speed” what makes a bullet lethal.

VENEZUELA: A POLITICAL "CHIMERA" TO KILL DEMOCRACY

In the last couple months I have been collaborating with the blog "Venezuela News & Views". The editor of this blog, Daniel Duquenal, had the idea to invite his readers to write comments on the modifications to each and every article of the ill conceived constitutional reform being proposed by the government.

Venezuela is at the brink of becoming a totalitarian country under the Presidency of a tyrant who wants to stay in power for life. I can not think of any other issue in Latin America that is more important than this one and therefore I offered Daniel to write comments to the modifications being proposed to Articles 11, 16 and 18.

The following are the comments I wrote and the dramatic conclusions I have reached.

Article 16

Preamble: When I first asked the editor of "Venezuela News & Views" to allow me to comment on the constitutional modifications of articles 11, 16 and 18, I was totally aware, from the first reading, of the dangers that the modifications to article 11 posed to the Venezuelan democracy.

At that time, I also thought that commenting article 16 was a waste of time because the text of this modification is the closest I have ever seen a constitutional text come to the legendary dyslectic speech of that beloved character called “Cantinflas” brilliantly portrayed by the Mexican actor Mario Moreno throughout his life.

I decided to write comments on all three articles though because they are part of Title II of the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999 that deals with the territory and the political division of that territory.

Far was I then from realizing that, as much as the implications of the modified text to article 11 where frightening, the implications of the modifications to the text of article 16 are by far, and I mean far, worse than those of article 11. Further, I was wrong and presumptuous by dismissing and labeling the text of the modifications to article 16 as “Cantinflesco”.