Drama in Venezuela: This “constitutional crisis” is looking pretty serious
posted at 4:01 pm on January 9, 2013 by Erika Johnsen
It’s official: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will supposedly not be sufficiently recovered from his December cancer surgery to attend his pre-scheduled January 10th presidential inauguration, but completely predictably, the Venezuelan high court has decided that Chavez missing the inauguration is constitutionally hunky-dory, despite the protestations from certain lieutenants and opponents alike.
To no one’s great surprise, Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez does not have to take the oath of office Thursday to begin his fourth term has president, a finding that some legal experts assailed as unconstitutional.
In a news conference Wednesday, Court President Luisa Estela Morales said Chavez’s absence is acceptable because it is neither “temporary nor permanent” given that his service will be uninterrupted and therefore does not fall under constitutional guidelines that could have forced Chavez to be present for the swearing-in ceremony or relinquish power. …
To have the Supreme Court administer the oath or delay the swearing-in, the president-elect must ask for a temporary postponement. Government officials say Chavez is conscious and in possession of his mental faculties.
But is Chavez’s incapacitation really neither “temporary nor permanent”? Chavez has not been seen nor heard from publicly since his operation in Cuba almost a full month ago (most out of character for him at such, er, ‘auspicious’ moments), and he is reportedly suffering from “respiratory insufficiency.” The rumors are flying that the two-decade president won’t be well enough to take up the reins again, ever; cue the power vacuum:
“It’s very evident that he isn’t governing, and what they want us to believe is that he’s governing, and they’re lying,” opposition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo told the Venezuelan television channel Globovision. He insisted that the National Assembly president should take over temporarily as interim leader and that the Supreme Court should appoint a panel of doctors to determine Chavez’s condition. …
While leaders of both the pro- and anti-Chavez camps say they don’t expect violence to break out Thursday, the government called for the socialist president’s supporters to gather for a demonstration at the presidential palace that day, and said that some foreign leaders were coming to visit. Bolivian President Evo Morales and Uruguayan President Jose Mujica have confirmed they will attend. …
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who was defeated by Chavez in October’s presidential vote, suggested on Tuesday that the military “has a role to play to play here,” though he did not give details. …
On Tuesday night, state television showed a video conference between Maduro and top military officers in which Defense Minister Diego Molero expressed the armed forces “unquestionable loyalty.”
Will Chavez really be back soon in full and robust health, or are we seeing a potential coup in the works here? Keep a weather eye out — the answer will have huge implications about the balance of power in both Venezuela and Latin America at large.
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Monsieur Hollande, you have no earthly clue what real austerity is, merci beaucoup.
gryphon202 on May 4, 2013 at 11:36 AM
Government wine? (Facepalm.)
RoadRunner on May 4, 2013 at 11:40 AM
Is that really any more ridiculous than the government food commodities our own government purchases?
gryphon202 on May 4, 2013 at 11:43 AM
Do the French really want to tick the Germans off. Again. If so, one can only hope O’Dumbo stays the hell out of it.
GarandFan on May 4, 2013 at 11:45 AM
You want some government cheese to go with that government wine?
Flange on May 4, 2013 at 11:52 AM
Let them drink wine
BobMbx on May 4, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Like, oh, m’god!
HB3 on May 4, 2013 at 11:56 AM
Being English, I’m loving this!
OldEnglish on May 4, 2013 at 11:56 AM
Government Whine!
xdwall on May 4, 2013 at 11:57 AM
Coolest wine I ever consumed was a Chateau de la Chaize 1976 Beaujolais Tricentennial Edition Magnum. The sales rep of the winery I was working for at the time gave me and the winemaker the bottle. He estimated its worth at about 3500-5000.
It wasn’t the best wine I’ve ever tasted, but it was the best wine in context.
Beaujolais are generally composed of a majority of Gamay Noir grape. Gamay Noirs don’t hold up well over time, and when we opened it, we expected it to taste flat and boring. Not so. For a 35 year old Gamay Noir, the wine was incredible, maintained a ton of fruit, and still had amazing structure considering the scenario. A truly incredible winemaker did some great work in 1976.
blatantblue on May 4, 2013 at 12:00 PM
I’m sure blatantblue will disagree, but anymore French wines are at the bottom of my families list. For the money, domestic or even Aussie wines are better for the buck than their high-priced wines and are just as good IMHO. Buy your local regional wines also. (Unless you’re upstate NY)
hawkdriver on May 4, 2013 at 12:03 PM
HAH! BB.
hawkdriver on May 4, 2013 at 12:04 PM
Night Train, last Tuesday, #3.99
BobMbx on May 4, 2013 at 12:06 PM
I’ll see your Night Train and raise you a Mad Dog 20/20. Don’t make me go all in with Thunderbird.
CaptainNed on May 4, 2013 at 12:09 PM
Maybe Ed can pick up a nice Merlot for his patio time.
Difficultas_Est_Imperium on May 4, 2013 at 12:10 PM
I can understand. It is France after all. Don’t drink the water.
hawkeye54 on May 4, 2013 at 12:14 PM
I trump your wine selections with two words: Silver Satin. I rest my case.
Mason on May 4, 2013 at 12:17 PM
So in other words he’s lying to everyone.
JEM on May 4, 2013 at 12:32 PM
That was a good year for anti-freeze.
steebo77 on May 4, 2013 at 12:33 PM
What’s the word? Thunderbird! Worst headache I’ve ever had, by far, was from drinking that stuff. My head hurts just thinking about it.
Flange on May 4, 2013 at 12:34 PM
Maybe they could get a deal on some Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill.
trigon on May 4, 2013 at 12:49 PM
Well, I don’t particularly want to make fun of the French.
But they do ask to be ridiculed, so it would be rude of me not to comply.
And I hope you voted UKIP…
JohnGalt23 on May 4, 2013 at 12:51 PM
Had I not escaped to OZ, I would have for sure!
OldEnglish on May 4, 2013 at 1:00 PM
I think the French still ship a lot of good mid-priced wines. I like the Aussies, too, but too much American wine is characterless and/or overpriced.
Why would they even bother cellaring a $20 bottle of wine? And what Palace guest has so little status that they’d be served it?
urban elitist on May 4, 2013 at 1:05 PM
Looks like a lot of folks did this time around – I would trade 100 Republicans for one Nigel Farage. Those of you who haven’t yet should behold some of the man’s youtube clips.
stout77 on May 4, 2013 at 1:16 PM
May the rest of the bottles turn to vinegar!
Spit, double spit.
can_con on May 4, 2013 at 2:10 PM
I wouldn’t completely agree. I’d say a lot of wines we’ve gotten from Virginia are what i would consider regional and in possession of a lot of character.
My family also buys a lot of the wines from the Biltmore Estate label that have a nice distinct taste. I concede it’s not a completely valid argument for them though because so much of the grape juice they start with is actually imported from other regions. What actually comes from their vineyards is very distinct.
I’d be interested to know what French label for mid-price you think is worth buying.
hawkdriver on May 4, 2013 at 2:31 PM
Perhaps we should send barge loads of Boonesfarm, Ripple, Wild Irish Rose… or Muscatel …as humanitarian aid. The wines of brown-bag-wrapped-bottle connoisseurs everywhere.
To be fair, though, Boonesfarm is more widely enjoyed by the wine spritzer crowd, as it has a very low alcohol content with a sort of kool-aid flavor point.
thatsafactjack on May 4, 2013 at 2:36 PM
I don’t know if I’m comfortable sending away crates of Strawberry Hill.
. . . trying to set your “Kool-Aid” snootery aside.
Axe on May 4, 2013 at 4:10 PM
…they’re French!…JugEars will buy it!
KOOLAID2 on May 4, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Sorry. Not ‘snootery’, though.
Check you Sketchbook mail. :)
thatsafactjack on May 4, 2013 at 5:11 PM
Sarc tags are for gurls. :)
k. But give me till the top of the hour; I’m about to update the site.
Axe on May 4, 2013 at 5:15 PM
Gotta have SOMETHING on hand if Obama pays a visit.
JamesS on May 4, 2013 at 7:34 PM
Nothing about huge Ukip surge in UK election? Shame on you, Hot Air
callingallcomets on May 5, 2013 at 5:17 AM
Nothing but the finest box of wine for Barack.
And put an extra straw in it for Big Mooch.
justltl on May 5, 2013 at 6:25 AM
No, and the French were warned about that over 150 years ago:
“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
ebrown2 on May 5, 2013 at 9:25 AM