VenEconomy // More like an amnesiac's purely fictitious rambling

VenEconomy: This (last) Saturday, President Hugo Chavez "rendered" the Report & Accounts of his administration in 2010 before the National Assembly, facing, for the first time in five years, a plural audience where, besides the 98 government party (PSUV) deputies, a bench of 67 opposition deputies was present.

Apart from the unusually conciliatory, reasonable, and condescending tone adopted by the President, a number of points that emerged during this marathon ceremony (more than seven hours) are worth highlighting.

The first is the forced absence of two deputies elect, Biaggio Pilieri and Jose Sanchez (Mazuco), both of whom are being held in prison accused of crimes they did not commit, in violation, moreover, of the parliamentary immunity to which they are entitled under the Constitution. Their seats were occupied by their alternates.

The second is a presentation by the President that was a far cry from a rendering of accounts for his performance during the past year and was more like an amnesiac's purely fictitious ramblings.

The nearest Hugo Chavez' presentation got to the true state of affairs was when he mentioned that 2010 had been a "difficult" year on the agricultural front. But even here his "rendering of accounts" fell short, as he only admitted to a 2.3% drop in rice production due to the "long summer," whereas Fedeagro's statistics put the drop at 30.8%.

As for the rest, he merely touched briefly on the issues that are of real interest to the population, such as citizen security, the cost of living, housing, health, and employment, and without assuming any responsibility for the decline in the indicators for each of these areas.

The third was Chavez' attempt to resurrect his democrat's facade by offering to "send back" the Enabling Law that the outgoing National Assembly granted him in December in a manner that was unconstitutional, illegitimate, and even immoral. But let no one be fooled. Watch out, because his offer to rescind the Enabling Law before May 1 was very clear: "I'll send you back the Enabling Law; I've no problem with that. I'm going to work harder and faster."

Those who swallowed the offer of conciliation need to bear in mind the following two items of news.

The first is a clarification given by Vice President Elias Jaua: "We are getting ready to deal more efficiently with any emergencies that may arise; laws to deal with those who are left homeless in order to provide a solution once and for all to the housing problem and to transform the economic and social conditions that generate this situation."

And the other is the decision by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to abide by a request by the President that it order all judges, "as a matter of urgency" and on a "temporary" basis, to restrict measures of execution that involve the loss of possession or tenancy of a property intended for housing, even when a final sentence has been handed down by a court.

It is clear that they are paving the way and buying time so that Hugo Chavez can legislate against the right to private property.