By Frank Jack Daniel
CARACAS | Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:25pm EST
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's parliament gave President Hugo Chavez decree powers for 18 months on Friday, outraging opposition parties that accused him of turning South America's biggest oil producer into a dictatorship.
The move consolidated the firebrand socialist leader's hold on power after nearly 12 years in office, and raised the prospect of a fresh wave of nationalizations as the former paratrooper seeks to entrench his self-styled "revolution."
Chavez had asked for the fast-track powers for one year, saying he needed them to deal with a national emergency caused by floods that drove nearly 140,000 people from their homes.
But the Assembly, which is dominated by loyalists from his Socialist Party, decided to extend them for a year and a half.
That means the president can rule by decree until mid-2012, and can keep opposition parties out of the legislative process until his re-election campaign is well under way for Venezuela's next presidential vote in December of that year.
The president of parliament, Cilia Flores, said lawmakers must heed the appeals of families afflicted by the floods.
"It is raised to 18 months at the proposal of those immediately affected, the same people who are there relying on Comandante Chavez," she told the Assembly.
"So that they can have their streets, their highways, public services, electricity, everything to live in dignity, we are going to hear these proposals and concerns."
The vote was part of a legislative onslaught to push through bills before a new National Assembly is seated on January 5. Earlier on Friday, parliament passed a law making it easier for the government to nationalize banks and trim their profits.
FOCUS ON 2012
The "Enabling Law," which means the president can issue decrees across a wide range of areas including housing, land, finances and security, has been denounced as autocratic by his political rivals as well as by the U.S. State Department.
A freshly united opposition coalition won about half the popular vote at a parliamentary election in September to take 40 percent of the seats in the next Assembly -- where they had hoped to put a check on the president's powers.
Chavez's latest move raised concern about whether he would accept defeat if the 2012 election does not go his way. Polls show his traditionally high ratings have slipped, with the nation split down the middle in September elections.
The president, who has used decree powers three times in the past, has said one of his first moves will be to increase the sales tax to raise funds for reconstruction after the floods.
In the past he has used the fast-track powers to pass about 100 laws, including measures to nationalize part of the oil sector and increase the number of Supreme Court judges.
The new banking law passed earlier on Friday creates stringent operating rules that include forcing banks to give 5 percent of their profits every six months to community groups.
It also allows Chavez to order the takeover of institutions that he deems problematic, a move previously made by the banking watchdog. Chavez has increased the state's role in the sector this year, but a total takeover of banking is unlikely.
Chavez, who has inherited Fidel Castro's mantle as Latin America's leading U.S. critic, still has a strong power base in city slums and impoverished rural areas.
Although his foes' view him as an autocrat ushering in Cuban-style communism, supporters say he is redressing years of imbalance and has encouraged democracy by giving power and funds to grass-roots groups that decide on some public works.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6 ... geNumber=1
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Venezuela bank law makes nationalisations easier
Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:09pm GMT
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's parliament passed a law on Friday that will make it easier for President Hugo Chavez to nationalise financial institutions and require them to give 5 percent of profits to community groups.
The law is part of a package of legislation the Venezuelan government is pushing through to entrench socialism in the South American OPEC member nation.
"It adopts a group of measures to correct problems that have been produced in the banking sector at the cost of the government's objectives and of the welfare of the nation," according to text of the measure approved in the early hours of Friday.
Chavez has repeatedly threatened to nationalise any institution that fails to meet his objectives of ending "speculation" in banking and of increasing credit to "productive" parts of the population.
Few analysts believe Chavez plans to nationalise banks outright, but many say he could further increase the state's role in the industry. U.S.-based economists at IHS Global last week said they believed the risk of nationalizations in the sector was now "very high."
In the past 12 months the government has taken over a dozen small failing banks and paid back deposits to most customers. Chavez last year spent $1 billion (£642 million) on the local unit of Spain's Banco Santander. All together public banks make up about one-third of the industry.
Last week, Chavez repeated his warning to banks that they should meet government-set lending targets or face takeover, and he specifically mentioned the local unit of Spain's BBVA among others.
Once the law is signed by Chavez and published in the official gazette, banks will be required to hand over 5 percent of their profits every 6 months to social organizations.
They are also required to create a fund worth 10 percent of their capital to pay for wages and pensions in case of bankruptcy.
Banks are still profitable in Venezuela although a two-year long recession has made their margins tighter. Analysts say the new law makes it harder, but not impossible, to operate successfully.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews ... LE20101217
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Chavez's allies approve new Venezuelan banking law
Dec 17, 2010 5:49 AM CT By The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan lawmakers have approved a new banking law that increases government powers to control the sector and includes fines for violations.
The National Assembly, overwhelmingly controlled by allies of President Hugo Chavez, passed the law early Friday. It describes banking as a "public service" and says banks will be considered to be of "public utility."
Venezuela's banking association had expressed concerns about the law.
Opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia condemned the law saying private banks are left "up against the wall." He said he views the law as a prelude to a state takeover of the banking sector.
Venezuela's private banks make up about 70 percent of the banking industry, while the government controls the rest.
via Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-1 ... g-law.html
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It describes banking as a "public service" and says banks will be considered to be of "public utility."
Gee, there's an fuckin' revolutionary idea.
I don't think it is unreasonable to expect that government in the face of an emergency has to become more streamlined and autocratic. And goddamnit, when millions of people are living in shantytowns, don't have jobs or access to clean water or medical care or are being driven out of their homes by predatory financial institutions or are having to make decisions between buying food or paying the electric bill or getting that operation for grandma then that constitutes a fucking emergency. Fuck the banks and fuck "democracy" and fuck capitalism.
Ok, but ya gotta wonder where this'll all end up. I mean as much as I'd like to see Foxnews burned to the ground I have some concerns with the way Chavez is handling the media in Venezuela, as best as I can surmise through the filter of the media I have access to. And these decree powers he is using at the end of a lame duck congress really are somewhat problematic. I don't know that I want even a benevolent philosopher king. Or do I? Do you?
