Posted on 01/24/2007 2:12:06 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez's political mentor — who once persuaded the fiery leader to seek power through elections after he led a failed coup — now says the regime has "all the characteristics of a dictatorial government."
Luis Miquilena, who helped guide Chavez to his initial 1998 election win and later was his interior minister, spoke out Tuesday five years after he left Chavez's Cabinet, while hundreds of government opponents held a separate protest over a congressional measure that would grant Chavez broad powers to pass laws by decree.
"This is a government with a hypocritical authoritarianism that tries to sell the world certain democratic appearances," said the 87-year-old Miquilena, who has maintained a low profile since resigning from Chavez's government in early 2002.
"The government is not abiding by any rule. It has all the characteristics of a dictatorial government," Miquilena told reporters during a ceremony at the newspaper El Nacional, which is highly critical of the government.
Chavez, who was re-elected by a wide margin last month, says he is committed to democracy and is overseeing changes that will give a greater voice in decision-making to poor Venezuelans. He regularly accuses his opponents of being backed by the United States, but he does not often refer to Miquilena.
Since his re-election, Chavez has accelerated plans to nationalize electrical and telecommunications companies, and is expected next week to be granted special powers by lawmakers to pass various laws by decree for 18 months.
Some 400 to 500 protesters, blowing whistles and waving flags, voiced their opposition to that bill in a peaceful protest in Caracas on Tuesday.
Lawmakers in the entirely pro-Chavez National Assembly, meanwhile, announced they would postpone until next Tuesday a session to approve the so-called "enabling law" allowing Chavez to enact laws by decree in areas from the economy to defense.
Plans announced by Chavez so far include nationalizing the country's main telecommunications company and imposing new taxes on the rich.
Miquilena said he sees a clear effort to "centralize power."
A former communist and pioneer of Venezuela's labor movement, Miquilena was a close collaborator who helped Chavez after he led a failed coup in 1992 against then-President Carlos Andres Perez.
Miquilena provided financial support to Chavez's family while he was in prison for the two years after the coup attempt and convinced the former paratrooper once he was released to seek the presidency through elections.
Miquilena helped Chavez found the Fifth Republic Movement and formed alliances with other parties.
As Chavez's interior minister in 1999, Miquilena earned the reputation as a conciliator between Chavez's fiery rhetoric and the nervous opposition. But he left the government in 2002 after quarreling with Chavez and denouncing his "autocratic style."
In recent years, he had largely disappeared from public view. Miquilena said Chavez's so-called "21st Century Socialism" has "no basis or doctrine of any nature, nor does it have a theory it is based upon."
"Nobody knows what it is, not even Chavez has it clear. Anything that occurs to him he puts in the minestrone," he said.
A Venezuelan opposition member holds a poster in support of the television station, Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), during a protest in Caracas, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. Hundreds of demonstrators protested against what a growing concentration of power in the hands of Chavez. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gestures during his weekly television show 'Hello President' in Caracas, Sunday. Jan. 21, 2006. A political veteran who was once an ally and mentor to Chavez has come out sharply criticizing the leftist leader for a congressional plan that would grant him broad powers to pass laws by decree. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office/Francisco Batista)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gestures during his weekly program 'Alo Presidente' at Miraflores Palace in Caracas January 21, 2007. (Miraflores Palace/Handout/Reuters)
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is locked in a "battle for his life," his friend and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said. "He's back in (Cuba's) Sierra Maestra and locked in a battle for his life," said Chavez, referring to Castro's legendary guerrilla war that toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and ushered in his Cuban Revolution.(AFP/File/Adalberto Roque)
I don't think so; I'm almost positive I saw him bussing tables at my favorite neighborhood restaurant.
Miquilena, does the name Cienfuegos mean anything to you? Beware!
Only Blood can redeem Venezuela if that happens at all.
Ping - Hugo Chavez
I agree with Newt Gingro. If we continue treating these problem countries and regimes as if we are simply having a communication problem with them, it is going to come back and bite us in the ass. These people need to be stopped. Taken out.
Is that anything like Executive Orders...you know, "stroke of the pen, law of the land" and all.
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