Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pressed lawmakers on Tuesday for special powers to fight corruption, in a move his rivals fear will lead to them being persecuted for political purposes.
“This is a matter of life or death for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Maduro warned in an almost three-hour speech at the National Assembly.
“If corruption keeps expanding and perpetuating its destructive capitalist logic, there will be no socialism here,” the elected leftist-populist said.
In addition, “I will seek powers to confront the Right Wing’s Economic War against the People. Victory will be ours!” Maduro tweeted ahead of his marathon speech.
It was not immediately clear how the president would secure support from 99 of 165 lawmakers — the three-fifths majority needed to pass the broader powers law. He has a majority, but it is not that broad.
The new law “will be a vital tool for a political and economic offensive in a New Stage of the Revolution,” Maduro tweeted referring to the government under him and his predecessor, former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Dozens of pro-government activists were marching and cheering outside the National Assembly.
Though Maduro’s supporters were energetic on the streets, he leads a country where his appeal is shaky, having defeated presidential rival Henrique Capriles by little more than 1 percent in this year’s election.
Aside from rallying against corruption, Maduro has faced soaring inflation, hard currency shortages and a lack of essential consumer items, such as toilet paper.
The president says the private sector is trying to sow chaos and fuel protests that could topple his government and he is keen to force his hand on some economic supply chain issues.
Capriles dared the government to imprison him and accused the president of corruption, and of using his fight against bribery to persecute the election runner-up.
The National Assembly has already prosecuted two opposition deputies for corruption.
Meanwhile, the justice system is investigating two opposition governors and opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
Maduro said that “there are no untouchables” in his crusade against corruption, citing several examples of his own officials being arrested.
Maduro, a firebrand anti-US populist in the mold of Chavez, has maintained Venezuela’s activist foreign policy, spending billions to subsidize oil for its regional allies, notably the cash-strapped communist Cuban government.
Amid rampant street crime and other woes, on Sept. 3 an electrical blackout left 70 percent of the South American country without power for hours.
The government has blamed the opposition, saying it seeks to create social unrest. It also has suggested that US diplomats were involved.
The US says it has sought to improve ties with Caracas since the death of Chavez, but little progress has been made. Still, the US is Venezuela’s top oil buyer, purchasing 900,000 barrels a day.
Venezuela ranks 165 on a list of 176 countries in terms of its success in fighting corruption, according to an index compiled by Transparency International, released in December last year.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS