Assembly orders trial of traitors

‘Venezuelan democracy barely alive’

CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 30, (AP): The all-powerful constitutional assembly passed a decree Tuesday ordering authorities to investigate and try Venezuelans believed responsible for supporting new US economic sanctions.

The decree declares all those who promoted the latest US response to the socialist government’s handling of the country’s political conflict as “traitors of the patria” and directs the chief prosecutor’s office to immediately initiate a probe.

“Those who call for treason leave us no option but to treat them as enemies of their own country,” said Diosdado Cabello, a delegate and leader of the ruling socialist party.

The move came just days after President Nicolas Maduro vowed to prosecute for treason opponents he accused of being behind the US financial sanctions.

Maduro singled out Julio Borges, president of Venezuela’s oppositioncontrolled congress, but Borges said Tuesday that he bore no responsibility for Venezuela’s growing economic peril. “The only one responsible is Maduro,” Borges said.

Trading

Maduro

The sanctions announced last week prohibit American financial institutions from providing new money to the government or the state oil company, PDVSA. They also ban trading in two bonds that the government recently issued to circumvent its increasing isolation from Western financial markets.

In addition, the sanctions restrict the Venezuelan oil giant’s US subsidiary, Citgo, from sending dividends back to Venezuela — moves that Maduro has said will be damaging to this nation’s beleaguered economy.

US officials contend the sanctions were crafted to avoid causing harm to ordinary Venezuelans and punish a government that US President Donald Trump now brands a dictatorship.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, echoed that assessment Tuesday, saying Maduro’s administration is “a dictatorship” that is “trying to survive at the cost of an unprecedented humanitarian distress.”

The sanctions are certain to cause further strife in a country where food shortages are common. The average Venezuelan lost 19 pounds last year, according to one study.

Former corrections minister Iris Varela, now a constitutional assembly delegate, received a resounding applause Tuesday when she said Venezuela can’t allow “traitors” to get away without punishment. Those who betray Venezuela and take advantage of US aggression “will have to be shot,” she said.

Election

The assembly, which is supposed to write a new constitution, was installed in early August following a disputed election of delegates. The assembly trumps all other branches of Venezuela’s government and is ruling with virtually unlimited power.

The UN human rights chief warned on Wednesday that democracy in crisis-torn Venezuela was eroding fast, questioning whether it was still functioning at all.

President Nicolas Maduro “was elected by the people,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told reporters in Geneva, but added that the government’s recent actions “support the feeling that what is left of democratic life in Venezuela is being squeezed”.

Asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s accusation Tuesday that Maduro was creating a “dictatorship”, Zeid said there had been “an erosion of democratic life”. “It must be barely alive, if still alive.” His comments came as his office released a fresh report accusing Venezuelan authorities of implementing a policy of repression to crack down on months of street protests against Maduro.

“The generalised and systematic use of excessive force during demonstrations and the arbitrary detention of protesters and perceived political opponents indicate that these were not the illegal or rogue acts of isolated officials,” the report said.

The extent of the violations “points to the existence of a policy to repress political dissent and instil fear in the population to curb demonstrations at the cost of Venezuelans’ rights and freedoms”, it added.

Venezuela, which is suffering from an acute economic crisis marked by shortages of basic goods, has experienced months of street demonstrations against Maduro that have left 125 people dead, according to prosecutors.