CHAVEZ GOVERNMENT: DIVISION OF POWERS WEAKENS THE STATE

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/15
TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ GOVERNMENT: DIVISION OF POWERS WEAKENS THE STATE

CLASSIFIED BY: Robin D. Meyer, Political Counselor, DOS, POL; REASON:
1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) Summary: President Chavez publicly echoed comments made
by President of the Supreme Court (TSJ) Luisa Estella Morales
December 5 that "the division of powers weakens the state." The
local media has speculated that the comments suggest that Chavez
might try to convoke a constituent assembly to redraft the 1999
Constitution. A constitutional change might be intended to reduce
the power of the National Assembly (AN) in the event the opposition
wins a majority in the September 2010 election. Opposition
observers told Poloffs that a constituent assembly could also be a
way for Chavez to simply suspend the AN elections. A
constitutional expert said the comments might instead be an effort
to distract the national debate and/or the opposition from domestic
issues that have hurt Chavez's popularity. End Summary.



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"A NEW PATH OF CONSTITUTIONALISM"

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2. (C) TSJ President Luisa Estella Morales commented December 5
during an event at the TSJ celebrating the tenth anniversary of the
1999 Constitution's passage that "we cannot continue thinking about
a division of powers, because that is a principle that debilitates
the state." She argued that the Venezuelan Constitution required
that the different branches of government collaborate and cooperate
together, noting that "one thing is the separation of powers,
another is the division." She illustrated her point by asserting
that the judiciary is the only branch that should be involved in
"judging" a law, but warned that "any action implemented [by a
state institution] in an individual and isolated form will fail."
(Comment: Morales' confusing rhetoric aside, her proposal seems to
be intended to argue for the unifications of government efforts
under Executive Branch direction, while maintaining the discrete
tasks performed by each branch. End Comment.) Morales added that
Venezuela was embarking on a "new path of constitutionalism" and
that "this is the time for Latin America and its people, and that
moves us to accept the challenge of a new judicial construction
that is more humane and liberating." She commented that some
aspects of the constitution were contradictory.




3. (SBU) Subsequently, President Chavez publicly agreed with
Morales' comments, asserting that "the division of powers weakens
the state, that is absolutely certain. Ah, but the autonomy of
powers is another thing." Chavez noted that "the initial sprout of
constitutionalism was born in Caracas [in 1999] and I believe that
we should maintain the force of initiative." He criticized the
opposition's response to Morales' statements, warning that "the
imperial machine presents us like dictators to justify anything."
Chavez asked legislators, judges, and jurists to move beyond the
legal theories that had been "imposed" on the Venezuelan system.
He said that "in Spain, there is a system in which the President
can be reelected as many times as the people want. But if it
occurs to us, the indigenous, to do something similar, we are
dictators, but the cultured Europeans, they can do it! What
cynicism." In his weekly "The Lines of Chavez" column, Chavez
wrote December 13 that "the time is propitious for all the powers
to be liberated from the burden of division - a consequence of an
ill-fated heritage that we should overcome sooner rather than later
- work in coordination as the popular constitutionalism that takes
form in Venezuela and in our America. The day should arrive in
which the voice of the people can say with plain certainty: now we
have a State!" Echoing these comments, on December 15 the People's
Defender ("Defensora del Pueblo"),Gabriela Ramirez, asserted that
"the separation of powers is often used as an excuse by cooperative
entities not to agree" both at national and local levels.



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CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, REDUX?

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4. (C) Opposition AN Deputy Juan Jose Molina (Podemos) told
Poloffs December 10 that Morales' comments could be paving the way
for legal action to delay AN elections slated for September 2010 by
convoking a constituent assembly ("asamblea constituyente").
Constitutional expert Pedro Alfono del Pino explained December 11
that doing so would be "dangerous" for democracy because the
constitution is vague about the process and rules for convoking a
constituent assembly, and makes no mention of how its members
should be selected - in theory, giving Chavez near total control
over its composition. (Note: The constitution prescribes three
ways for making changes: a "reform" for minor alterations such as
wording or details of an article; an "amendment" for more
significant changes; and convoking a "constituent assembly" for
major changes that affect fundamental aspects of the constitution.
End Note.)




5. (C) Pino noted that legally speaking, a constituent assembly's
decisionmaking would supersede all laws and state institutions and
could stay indefinitely "in session." He assessed, however, that
such a dictatorial scenario was unlikely given the political cost
of effectively dissolving the government. He suggested instead
that the talk of revising the constitution was just another trial
balloon launched by the government, perhaps with the goal of
distracting the national debate and/or the opposition from more
immediate domestic issues.



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COMMENT

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6. (C) Given the level of debate preceding the 2009
constitutional referendum, convoking a constituent assembly appears
to be the nuclear option for Chavez if he feels his control over
the government might be threatened. He already enjoys near total
control over the other branches of government, and even opposition
officials privately admit that the electoral rules and the disarray
of the opposition give Chavismo a huge advantage in retaining a
substantial majority of the AN seats in 2010. Nevertheless,
Chavez's comments appear to be an effort to gauge public opinion
regarding the elimination or revision of constitutional provisions
regarding the separation of powers - a goal he may be interested in
pursuing over the longer-term, in one form or another as a way of
further and permanently consolidating his control over the
Venezuelan state. End Comment.
DUDDY