Venezuelan Parliament initiates Maduro impeachment despite questionable constitutional procedure

Katehon
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 16:13 UTC

© Wikimedia

Maduro Carabobo

The pro-American wing of the Venezuelan parliament held an extraordinary session in which the board decided to initiate impeachment procedures against president Maduro, even while not being grounded in a constitutional procedure.

Background

Several district courts had not recognized the validity of Venezuelan voter signatures in support of a referendum to impeach President Nicolas Maduro collected in the first phase, as there were reports of apparent irregularities in the collection process. Included in the petition signatures were the deceased, those too young to vote, as well as forged signatures. In several districts, the signatories were asked to confirm their vote, and a certain percentage of these were not confirmed. Signatures of many people were therefore forged to achieve an inflated number, however the board of the extraordinary session decided to use this to begin proceedings anyway.

The second stage of the the referendum preparations, which was supposed to start today, will be postponed indefinitely until the initiators correct violations made in the course of the first stage - the collection of signatures of 1% and the re-organization of the signature collecting process.

However, this would have greatly changed the plans of the opposition, as they need to have time to organize a referendum by January 10th, 2017. Otherwise, Nicolas Maduro will designate the vice president .

Meanwhile, the plans of the opposition became known thanks in part to the testimony of terrorist José Vicente Garcia, that there was a plan to detonate a bomb during the march of the opposition to discredit the government. He noted among other things that there was a planned seizure of military units and attacks on the army and the government, including the use of weapons. In the period from the 26th to 28th of October, the phase associated with "general" strike was to begin, on the 31st a new march, perhaps again with attempts of terrorist attacks; November 3rd was planned as the launch of the referendum procedure and the prosecution of Maduro, supposedly for dereliction of duty and obstruction of consent, the 9th would see the blocking of roads, and the 10th was to begin the main phase of the revolution.

Reaction of Nicolas Maduro

The pro-American opposition chose quite a good time for the destabilization of the situation: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro successfully carried out a tour of oil-producing countries, and was not in Caracas for some time. It is reported that before today's meeting of OPEC with Russia in Vienna, he managed to reach agreements with almost all of the participating countries of OPEC which will help to stabilize the price of oil and keep them high, which is best for the Venezuelan economy, which in the words of Maduro, will continue to depend on oil.

Speaking at a ministerial meeting by video conference while in Saudi Arabia, Maduro said that they must work with the opposition, including those in Parliament, and advised his ministers to be optimistic.

However, it is clear that the liberals received a political order and intend to fulfill it at any cost, so no matter what concessions are given by the president and no matter how much improvement is seen in economic and social indicators, the result will be the same - the opposition will try to carry the impeachment forward and the country into a state of civil war.

Hide Another amazing coincidence

The most interesting thing is that this plot on the part of the US has been carried out quite openly. At a conference last week of the US military leadership of SOUTHCOM, US Southern Command, Admiral Kurt W. Tidd announced the activation of a network "in his area of ​​responsibility, which covers 45 countries and territories in Central and South America and the Caribbean", as stated in a public report for the US Department of defense.

"Everyone" in friendly networks "knows what needs to be done" - added Tidd.

"Ultimately, we want to help our partners -- in the U.S. government and across Latin America and the Caribbean -- to build a network that is stronger, more adaptive, and more interconnected than any threat network can ever hope to be", he added.

Hide Civil collision

Meanwhile, civil strife and turmoil in Venezuela has already begun. During the session of the National Assembly (Parliament) on the unconstitutional actions, a huge crowd of protesters surrounded the building, some of whom burst into the room.

However, national leaders have called on their supporters to remain calm, and the protesters concentrated on the square in front of parliament.

Comment: More on Venezuela impeachment process: Venezuela's Congress attempting coup accuses President Maduro of staging 'coup' by axing recall referendum

Update: Venezuelan opposition-led legislature votes to begin political trial against President Maduro

The opposition-led National Assembly has voted to begin proceedings to impeach President Nicolas Maduro for "constitutional violations." Proceedings are unlikely to be effective, but the decision will further raise tension in the politically deadlocked country.

"If Maduro doesn't understand that he has to respect the constitution, we have all the right to ask him to step down," Henrique Capriles, the leading opposition figure said on the eve of Tuesday's vote.

Having adopted a 10-point resolution that agreed on Maduro's culpability last week, the National Assembly called for the President - in power since 2013 - to face deputies in a week's time. Maduro is almost certain to ignore the summons.

Elected last year, Congress has been deprived of its powers by a decision of the Supreme Court, which has consistently backed the incumbent over allegations of vote-buying.

"Legally, the National Assembly does not exist," said vice-president Aristobulo Isturiz on Tuesday.