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<h1 id="reader-title">Venezuela's Right Wing Confesses to 17
years of Political Delinquency: The Amnesty Bill</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">By Dr Francisco
Dominguez – Huffington Post, March 14th 2016</div>
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<p><strong>Introduction</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>"A confesion de parte, relevo de prueba"</strong></em><br>
(Spanish legal expression: <em><strong>"When there is
confession, no evidence is required"</strong></em>).</p>
<p>Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes could not imagine how
correct he was when he said that the challenge a Latin
American writer faced was to produce fiction that was
more extraordinary than reality itself.</p>
<p>Venezuela's Right Wing Opposition has just managed to
perform an event that surpasses Gabriel Garcia Marquez's
magic realism: On 18th February 2016, making use of
their majority in the National Assembly, they have
passed an Amnesty Bill that seeks to provide legal
impunity to acts of political delinquency they and their
supporters have perpetrated for 17 years. Venezuela's
Right Wing majority in the National Assembly's 'amnesty'
bill is not only an admission of guilt for, but also a
well organised catalogue of, the political offences they
and their supporters have perpetrated since 1999.</p>
<p>The Bill is upfront about what it seeks to amnesty:
"acts defined as crimes, misdemeanours or infringements
[...] and other acts provided for herein." (Art.1) This
Bill is an Opposition's colossal Freudian slip since
with it they, unwittingly, have admitted their guilt of
more than a decade and a half of illegal, violent and
undemocratic political felonies.</p>
<p>The Amnesty Bill is not yet law, since it needs to go
through several constitutional procedures, including
being vetoed by President Nicolas Maduro, who has
condemned the Bill in the strongest terms. In the highly
likely event of President Maduro vetoing it, the Bill
will then be referred to the Supreme Court (TSJ) to get
it to issue a ruling on its constitutionality. The TSJ
can declare the Bill unconstitutional regardless of the
size of the Right Wing majority in the National Assembly
(for details of what the Opposition majority in the
National Assembly can and cannot do read my article in
the Huffington Post, <em><a
data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":1}}"
target="_hplink"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-francisco-dominguez/right-wing-majority-in-ve_b_9069350.html?utm_hp_ref=venezuela">Right
Wing Majority in Venezuela's National Assembly: The
Constitutional and Political Stakes</a></em>).</p>
<p><strong>The Amnesty Bill's Objectives and Scope</strong></p>
<p>The Right Wing Opposition <em><a
data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":2}}"
target="_hplink"
href="http://www.asambleanacional.gob.ve/uploads/documentos/doc_ed81a6f2079a4d3aeaa5e74710b47c5458f139d6.pdf">Amnesty
and National Reconciliation Bill (Proyecto de Ley de
Amnistía y Reconciliación Nacional</a></em>, in
Spanish) makes its stipulations retroactive to 1st
January 1999, and in 45 articles, covers all manner of
felonies and crimes committed up to the moment it
becomes law (which, in the unlikely event of being
approved, might be this year, 2016) when would be
officially promulgated in the country's National Gazette
(Art.2, p.6). As we shall see below, the political
felonies and crimes it covers are comprehensive since
the bill's scope ranges from misdemeanour at a public
rally to terrorist acts involving explosives and
firearms. The choice of period gives the game away since
it includes ALL the illegal, criminal and law-breaking
political acts perpetrated since 1999 by Opposition
leaders and their supporters throughout the governments
of both Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.</p>
<p>The list of felonies to be amnestied is as long as the
acts they have perpetrated, and it correlates neatly
with Right Wing Opposition's efforts to illegally
overthrow the democratically elected, constitutional and
legitimate government of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela. They include criminal acts perpetrated
during <em>golpista</em> events such as the April 2002
coup d'état; the oil lock-out in 2002-3; the street
barricades and street violence (known in Venezuela as <em>guarimba</em>)
that accompanied their 2004 recall referendum campaign
against President Chavez; the collusion with Colombian
paramilitaries to assault the country's presidential
palace and assassinate the president; various other coup
d'état attempts (in 2008, 2009 and 2010); the use of <em>guarimba</em> and
hoarding of basic consumption necessities, including
food items, during the 2007 constitutional referendum;
all false reporting; all activities associated with the
economic war; the wanton violence, destruction and loss
of life of the <em>guarimbas</em> of April 2013 and
February-July 2014 associated with the defeat of
Henrique Capriles as presidential candidate and <em>La
Salida</em> ("The Ousting") respectively. <em>La
Salida</em> was a political campaign led by Leopoldo
Lopez, explicitly waged to oust the democratically
elected government (See Lopez's confirmation of this <a
data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":3}}"
target="_hplink"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQqoCNxPJTw">in
his own words in Spanish</a>). Plus all acts of
violence, including terrorist acts carried out for
illegal and unconstitutional political aims.</p>
<p>In its Art.4, the Bill confirms the above with
breath-taking eloquence:</p>
<p><em>Amnesty shall be granted to acts regarded as crimes
or misdemeanours when such acts have been or might
have been committed for participating, organizing or
calling demonstrations, protests, or meetings for
political purposes, expressing ideas or spreading
information for political motives, or making or
promoting actions, proclamations, political agreements
or statements deemed to be aimed at changing the
constitutional order or the official government,
whether or not accompanied by conspiracy actions. In
such cases, amnesty shall be granted to the following
criminal acts:</em></p>
<p><em>a) Incitement to disobey the law, incitement to
hatred and crime apology;<br>
b. Incitement to crime;<br>
c. Assault and battery;<br>
d. Violence or resistance to authority, and
disobedience to authority;<br>
e. Causing panic in the community or keeping it under
distress by the dissemination of false information;<br>
f. Conspiracy;<br>
g. Obstruction of public roads with the aim to set up
fire and other attacks against passing vehicles;<br>
h. Damaging transportation systems as well as public
IT and communication;<br>
i. Destruction or damaging of roads and related
infrastructure for public communication;<br>
j. Property damage;<br>
k. Conspiracy and terrorism;<br>
l. Importation, manufacture, possession, supply or
concealment of explosives or incendiary devices;<br>
m. Disturbance of public peace;<br>
n. Insulting a civil servant, in its various forms;<br>
o. Use of minors to commit crimes;<br>
p. Arson and other crimes involving danger for the
public in general, in various forms;<br>
q. Treason and other crimes against the Nation;<br>
r. Rebellion and other related offences;<br>
s. Mutiny, civil rebellion, treason, military
rebellion, incitement to military rebellion, uprising,
false alarm, attack and insult to the sentry,
disclosure of military secrets, offense to military
decorum, misuse of badges medals and military ranks,
and theft of items belonging to the Armed Force;<br>
t. Denial of legally due services;<br>
u. Concealment;<br>
v. Illegal possession and misuse of firearms, and the
felony of illegal possession of firearms, illegal
possession of a firearm and possession of firearms in
public places;<br>
w. Damage to facilities of the National Electric
System; and<br>
x. "Other related offences or those that appear
closely related to any of the above.</em>" (<em>Amnesty
and National Reconciliation Bill</em>, pp. 9-10)</p>
<p>The offences included in the above list are
specifically identified as felonies in Venezuela's Penal
Code in Arts. 128, 129, 132, 134, 140, 141, 143, 163,
215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 238,
254, 255, 256, 257, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 281,
285, 283, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 296, 296-A,
297, 343, 346, 347, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 356,
357, 360, 362, 413, 414, 415, 483, 473, 474, 479, and
506.</p>
<p>Additionally, the 'amnesty' includes offences to:
Art.37 of the Law Against Organized Crime and Financing
of Terrorism; Art.264 on offences against the Law for
the Protection of Children and Adolescents; Arts.111,
112 and 113 of the Disarmament and Arms and Ammunitions
Law dealing with offences regarding the illicit and
illegal use and bearing of firearms; Art.107 of the Law
of the Electricity Service identifying deliberate
damages to the electricity service; and Arts. 412, 464,
476, 481, 486, 497, 500, 501, 502, 550, 565, 566 and 570
of the Military Justice Code that deals with offences
such as military rebellion and instigation to military
rebellion.</p>
<p>The above amount to the violation of a staggering total
of 82 articles of the Penal Code and other Laws, most of
which have to do with political violence. For good
measure, and taking advantage of their 'super majority',
the Right Wing MPs have also included articles of the
Penal Code that deal with offences of corruption in the
Law Against Corruption (See Arts. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
and 22 of the 'amnesty' Bill).</p>
<p>This comprehensive crimes list, if approved as law,
would leave off the hook the whole of the leadership of
the Right Wing Opposition (with no exception) that has
been centrally involved in 17 years of destabilization;
all Opposition's operatives and shock groups that have
carried out vandalic acts and caused dozens of deaths
and grave injuries to hundreds of people during the <em>guarimbas</em>;
all activities associated with the training, arming and
military training of armed groups, and with acts
associated with attacks with weapons, explosives,
firearms; and destruction of private and private
property.</p>
<p>It gets better. The Amnesty Bill also includes acts <br>
• reported as defamation or libel, committed by any
citizen, political leader, journalist, media managers or
editors, editorial boards or any other person, including
images, messages through social media (Arts.8 and 9); <br>
• contrary to the established peace and general order,
which occurred between April 11th and 14th, 2002"
(Art.10)<br>
• contrary to the established peace committed in the
framework of the nationwide strike and oil strike,
declared and implemented form the last months of 2002
until early 2003." (Art.11); <br>
• related to statements by political leaders on January
23rd, 2014 and subsequent days, through the media and
the social networks, in the framework of the proposal
called <em>La Salida</em> ("The Ousting". (Art.12) <br>
• related to the "National Agreement for Transition"
signed by Opposition political leaders on February 11th,
2015 and to the public call to sign or support such
agreement. (Art.13)<br>
• of "contempt of court regarding laws on injunctions or
protections under constitutional remedies..." (Art.14)<br>
• "deemed individual terrorism as described in article
52 of the Organic Law Against Organized Crime and
Terrorism Financing, committed in 2014 and related to
the plans that facilitated the absconding of persons who
had been deprived from freedom due to the events
mentioned herein, provided that such acts have not
damaged the life and physical integrity of people
[...]" <br>
• regarded as crimes in accordance with Article 52 of
the Organic Law Against Organized Crime and Terrorism
Financing in the case of allegedly punishable acts
committed during protests or demonstrations in 2014,
provided that such acts have not damaged the life or
physical integrity of people. " (Art.15)</p>
<p>Art.7 of the Amnesty Bill (pp. 12-14) lists the
political events during which all the offences to be
amnestied were perpetrated: 2002 (failed coup d'état);
2003 (oil lock-out); 2004 (recall referendum); 2006
(presidential election); 2007 (constitutional
referendum); 2009 (Right Wing Caracas Mayor, Antonio
Ledezma, arbitrarily sacking hundreds of Town Hall
workers); 2009 (August, demonstration against the
government's Law of Education); 2011 (violent
demonstrations in the state of Barinas); 2013 (April,
nationwide violent street protests following
Opposition's presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles'
electoral defeat, leading to the death of 13 people, two
of them children); and 2014 (February to July <em>guarimbas</em> unleashed
by Leopoldo Lopez aimed at the ousting - <em>La Salida</em> -
of the democratically elected and legitimate government
of President Nicolas Maduro, in which 43 people (<a
data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":5}}"
target="_hplink"
href="http://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n249080.html">see
details about the victims and how they died</a>) lost
their lives, there were millions of dollars worth of
destruction of private and public property, including
the setting on fire to 15 universities, and over 800
people seriously injured). About <em>La Salida</em>,
Art.7 contains a list of 23 events during which
opposition supporters went on the rampage, acts to be
amnestied.</p>
<p>The plot thickens even further with the inclusion in
the Amnesty Bill of offences such as drug trafficking,
kidnapping, embezzlement (Art.16 & Art.30),
corruption, hoarding, black market speculation, economic
boycott, fraudulent product adulteration, selling of
items off expire day (Art.19), financing of terrorism,
illicit enrichment (Art.20), fraud and usury in the
selling and construction of private housing, and not
paying of taxes (Art.35).</p>
<p>In short, not only there is provision in the Bill for
every offence committed by their supporters mainly as a
result of violent and destabilizing political
activities, but the amnesty is extended to include all
manner of economic crimes committed by bankers,
entrepreneurs, and financiers most of whom have avoided
Venezuela's justice system by absconding in Miami, Peru,
Panama, etc., claiming to be 'political refugees'.</p>
<p><strong>The Amnesty Bill: a Manual for <em>Golpismo</em> and
Impunity</strong></p>
<p>Due to media bias, most people probably believe that
the Bolivarian government is animated by an intolerant
and sectarian attitude whose authoritarianism inclines
it to just punish opponents. This is not correct. On
more than one occasion Hugo Chavez issued various
amnesties to individuals involved in seditious and
illegal actions against his government. Due to media
misinformation they also probably think that the Amnesty
Bill is actually very popular. It is not: a <a
data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":6}}"
target="_hplink"
href="http://www.hinterlaces.com/monitor-pais/monitor-pais-58-de-los-venezolanos-esta-de-acuerdo-con-la-ley-de-amnistia"><em>Hinterlaces</em> poll
conducted between 19th and 24th of February 2016</a> showed
that only 9% thought it was a priority to pass an
amnesty law).</p>
<p>Likewise, most people probably believe that the
supposed intolerant and authoritarian nature of the
Bolivarian government is the chief reason for the
intense polarization that besets this South American
nation. In fact, both Presidents Chavez and Maduro have
called upon the Right Wing Opposition on numerous
occasions to engage in constructive dialogue.
Furthermore, the Venezuelan government has promoted and
got support for constructive dialogue with the
Opposition through many regional bodies such as MERCOSUR
Common Market of the South, UNASUR (Union of South
American nations, ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas), and CELAC (Commonwealth of Latin American and
Caribbean States), just to mention the most important
ones.</p>
<p>Upon the announcement by the majority Right Wing in the
National Assembly of their intention to pass the Amnesty
Bill, <em>Chavista</em> MPs proposed instead the setting
up of an all-party Truth and Reconciliation Commission
to examine in detail case by case for the whole of the
17 years the Bill seeks to cover. The Commission would,
on a consensual basis and after serious and rigorous
police, forensic and judicial investigations, determine
which case merits a presidential pardon, amnesty or
punishment. <em>Chavista</em> MPs stated in unequivocal
terms that the Commission would also examine all
individuals, members of the security and law enforcement
officers who may have perpetrated violent crimes,
especially those involving violation of human rights. In
no section of the Amnesty Bill, there is any
manifestation of contrition for the so many acts of
political violence carried out, not a single phrase of
apology addressed to the victims.</p>
<p>The out of hand rejection of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and their doggedly pressing on
with the Amnesty Bill, confirms that the Right Wing
majority in the National Assembly have no real interest
in Reconciliation, even less in the Truth thus
squandering a golden opportunity to genuinely bring
about conditions for national reconciliation. They
preferred to opt for their proposed Amnesty Bill, thus
revealing their real aim is not peace but impunity,
which, if successful, will encourage more
"misdemeanours, offences, infringements, and crimes" in
future years. Thus, Venezuela's most prominent
constitutional lawyer, Hermann Escarrá is absolutely
right in pointing out that the Amnesty Bill will
generate more violence in the country.</p>
<p>It is difficult no to draw the conclusion that instead
the Right Wing are keener to use their 'super majority'
to get away with murder.</p>
<p>The Amnesty Bill is unconstitutional since it
contravenes a rather large number of the 1999
constitution's principles and articles but more
importantly, it massively undermines an essential
principle of any democracy: the rule of law (<em>estado
de derecho</em> in Spanish). Worse still, the Bill
includes offences committed by many of the very MPs who
are sponsoring and have voted for it. One can go through
the list of offences included in the Bill article by
article and put the name of prominent Opposition members
to many of the specific crimes and violent political
events described in the Bill. Thus, for example, Art.7
of the Amnesty Bill, include "university protests and
demonstrations, which took place in Merida state, in May
2006", events during which Nixon Moreno, a high ranking
member of the Opposition, was charged with attempted
rape against a female officer of the National Guard.
Moreno fled to Peru as a "political exile" and there is
an Interpol warrant of arrest against him.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it is well known that substantial sections
of the Opposition coalition adhere to extreme right wing
views and have repeatedly shown their willingness to
resort to all manner of political violence. In this
regard for 17 years the government has denounced
sections of the Opposition for their collaboration and
utilization of Colombian paramilitaries in Venezuela
territory.</p>
<p>In fact, the youngest MP of the National Assembly,
Robert Serra (27) and his assistant were assassinated by
three Colombian paramilitaries who are now in prison
after being extradited by Colombia's President Juan
Manuel Santos at the request of Venezuela's law
enforcement authorities. Both Serra and his assistant
were stabbed to death in their own house and the
paramilitaries declared they have used such a brutal
form of killing because its silent manner would not
alert the neighbours.</p>
<p>Additionally, there are the gory events leading to the
dismemberment of the body of Liana Aixa Argueta by two
individuals linked to Venezuela's extreme right wing
political parties, who confessed to have received
military training in clandestine camps in Venezuela and
Colombia by opposition retired general Antonio Rivero
(see <a
data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"entry_text","lnid":"citation","mpid":7}}"
target="_hplink"
href="http://www.miamidiario.com/sucesos/venezuela/acusados-/voluntad-popular/entrenamiento-militar/mujer-descuartizada/alianza-bravo-pueblo/liana-aixa-hergueta/carlos-trejo/jose-perez-venta/samuel-angulo/342844">details
in <em>Miami Diario</em></a>).</p>
<p>To all of the above, it must be added that several of
the 43 of people who died during the <em>La Salida
guarimbas</em> (February to July 2014) did so from
shots in the head fired by professional marksmen. These
deaths were the handy work of highly trained
professionals.</p>
<p>Additionally, the Amnesty Bill contravenes many
international protocols and conventions on human, social
and political rights to which Venezuela is signatory to.
Hermann Escarrá pointed out that the Amnesty Bill
contravenes, among many others, the Inter American Bill
of Human Rights, international protocols of civil and
political rights, on rights of the child and so forth.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the Amnesty Bill is not at all a
mechanism for reconciliation as claimed by the Bill (pp.
1-7) but it is actually an impunity law for political
crimes against the nation, the constitution, the
country's stability, its laws, its people, its
institutions, its government, its installations, its
military institutions, its civil servants, its
infrastructure and much more. The Bill is actually a <em>Manual
for Golpismo and Impunity</em>, but above all, an
admission of guilt of 17 years of political delinquency.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p><em>Edited by Venezuelanalysis.com </em></p>
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