The slow death of a democracy 

By Peter Krupa:

In September, when a political alliance in opposition to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won a majority of the popular vote and a large number of seats in the national assembly, some observers cheered the victory. 

They argued that the substantial presence of opposition lawmakers in the legislature would slow the pace of Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution" and temper some of its more extreme elements.

Unfortunately, those observers were wrong.

Following the election, and before the new members took their seats, Chavez's rubber-stamp national assembly moved swiftly to ram through a raft of new laws that consolidate and centralize power, accelerating the country toward a form of government that is anything but democratic.

To start with, the national assembly handed Chavez the power to rule by decree, a power he has been given several times before in his 11-year rule. This time, it's ostensibly to deal with floods that have left more than 100,000 Venezuelans homeless.

But not coincidentally, the national assembly has given him 18 months, meaning his decree powers will be comfortably in place until the 2012 presidential election, effectively disenfranchising the newly elected national assembly until further notice.

Likewise, the assembly also passed a variety of new rules of procedure under which it will now meet as little as four times a month, lawmakers' speeches are further limited in length, and floor debates can only be broadcast on state television channels controlled by Chavez supporters.

The new national assembly that took its seats on January 5 will not have much to do.

Perhaps aware that these extreme moves may upset even members of his own party, Chavez's lame duck national assembly also passed a law banning members from voting across party lines. Bipartisanship is now officially against the rules.

With the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the central government wrapped up, Chavez turned to local government, with the assembly passing another law that essentially gives the executive branch authority to eliminate local and municipal governments and replace them with centrally administered "community councils."

Not content with consolidating and centralizing political power, Chávez turned on civil society, his assembly passing a law banning non-governmental organizations from accepting funds from abroad.

As the moneyed classes in Venezuela are unlikely to step up and fill the void left by foreign donors for fear of suddenly finding their property and businesses expropriated, it's a safe bet that non-profit civil society organizations that lobby for civil rights and good governance will cease to exist.

For good measure, the national assembly also passed changes to the telecommunications law that further pinch Globovision - the lone remaining opposition TV channel - and ban speech that causes "anxiety or unrest among the public order," even on the internet.

So with the private sector cowed, the courts politicized, the national assembly neutered, civil society defunded, local politics centralized, opposition media playing defense, labor unions ignored, and supposedly autonomous government agencies like the People's Ombudsmen's Office and the National Elections Council co-opted by Chavez allies, that leaves one last potential point of opposition to his near-total power grab: universities.

Of course, Chavez thought of this as well. Another law just passed by the national assembly essentially eliminated university autonomy and centralized the way university rectors are chosen.

Caving in to internal party pressure, Chavez later vetoed that law. But the veto just underscores his keen awareness of when he's pushing things just a bit too far, an awareness that has kept him in power for more than a decade.

If recent history is any guide, he will likely go after university autonomy later, in a more subtle fashion.

Because these days, democracies don't end with coups but with creeping power grabs. Chavez's skillful power grab has stretched out over nearly 12 years, and now it has reached fruition. With international organizations silent thus far, it seems extremely unlikely that he will leave power voluntarily should he lose the election in 2012.

Even if Chavez does leave power, he leaves a nation in ruins, with crime and corruption setting world records, and domestic production and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela seriously damaged.

It's worth remembering that in the 1970s and 80s, Venezuela was a prosperous, democratic country, while the rest of the region suffered dictatorships and hyperinflation. Ironically, today the situation has reversed: while Latin American economies and democracies thrive, Venezuela is on life support.

 bnamericas

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