Copyright 2004 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

The Miami Herald

December 17, 2004, Friday

SECTION: COMMENTARY

KR-ACC-NO: K4470

LENGTH: 486 words

HEADLINE: Venezuela's institutions under President Chavez's control

BODY:

The following editorial appeared in The Miami Herald on Thursday, Dec. 16:

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Beware what you wish for: Six years ago, disgusted with a corrupt political system, a large majority of Venezuelans ushered Hugo Chavez into power with license to conduct his "Bolivarian revolution."

Today, the nation stands at the brink of being an elected dictatorship. With new pro-Chavez justices packed onto the Supreme Court, a new law that gags the largely opposition press, a pro-Chavez majority in the National Assembly and broad executive powers to rule by decree, its hard to imagine that any Venezuelan institution can check the president's reach.

Chavistas ask, What's wrong with that? Chavez promises to spread the wealth of an oil-rich country that has an embarrassing amount of poverty _ and he's already spent lavishly on social programs for the poor.

The problem is that limitless power leads to limitless abuses. Without watchdogs such as the press and judiciary, a president can stifle dissent, discriminate against minorities, send enemies to jail, award fat contracts to cronies, take kickbacks, use the treasury as a personal piggy bank and impose policies that are not in the interest of the greater good. In the end, the poor end up worse off. And such a president could be re-elected for life.

The result of absolute power can be seen just north of Venezuela, in Cuba. Ruled by Fidel Castro for 45 years, the island's economy has been destroyed and its people stripped of fundamental rights. Publicly challenging the one-party system can land a Cuban in jail, as it did 75 dissidents imprisoned last year with terms of up to 28 years.

It's not reassuring that Chavez looks to Castro, a dictator, as his mentor. Nor are we encouraged that one of the newly appointed Chavista justices to the Supreme Court recently suggested that Venezuela's current constitution _ written to Chavez's own specifications _ should be amended to allow the president to be re-elected indefinitely.

Other disturbing signs point to Chavez's relentless consolidation of power. The recently enacted Chavista gag law gives the government broad discretion to fine and shut down media outlets that until now have given voice to Chavez's critics. The measure outlaws messages deemed to "disrupt public order" and other offenses so vaguely defined that anything might be considered a crime. A new penal code just approved by the pro-Chavez Assembly even criminalizes the cacerolazo, a popular protest method of banging on pots and pans.

Venezuela's opposition remains divided and weak after Chavez defeated the attempt to recall him from office, and other watchdog groups are under threat of prosecution. No one remains to stop his rule. The consolation is that Chavez will be the only one to blame when the country fails to prosper.

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JOURNAL-CODE: MI

LOAD-DATE: December 17, 2004