VENEZUELA: Opposition lambasts President Nicolas Maduro's record of corruption in government as Chavez's heir calls for special decree powers to tackle widespread grafts in the politically divided nation

Record ID: 567037

  • Title: VENEZUELA: Opposition lambasts President Nicolas Maduro's record of corruption in government as Chavez's heir calls for special decree powers to tackle widespread grafts in the politically divided nation
  • Date: 13th August 2013
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF VENEZUELAN PARLIAMENT INTERVIEW WITH OPPOSITION CONGRESSMAN WILLIAM DAVILA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OPPOSITION CONGRESSMAN, WILLIAM DAVILA, SAYING: "He (Maduro) doesn't need to apply for special powers to fight corruption. In the past 14 years there has been no political will to fight the "boliburgueses" (new bourgeois created by the Venezuelan government), to fight against these people around the government who have created immense fortunes and who have bought communication mediums and have become rich from public office." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (RECENT) (REUTERS) MORE OF EXTERIOR OF VENEZUELAN PARLIAMENT
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAARSGXG89AFX2L8GHT43FGFLF8
  • Story Text: Venezuela's opposition lambasted a proposal by President Nicolas Maduro to ask for decrees powers last used by his predecessor Hugo Chavez to ramp up a fight against corruption, slamming the Chavista government's own record on grafts.
    Earlier this week, Maduro announced via national address he would ask the National Assembly, which is dominated by his supporters, to grant him decree powers to step up his battle to defeat graft.
    On Tuesday (August 13), Maduro reiterated his plan for a new anti-corruption drive in the OPEC nation.

    "I will call a national emergency in the fight against corruption and will ask for special powers for a process of reform of the laws and a institutional change to combat (corruption) at the source. If it is necessary to strengthen an anti-corruption article in the constitution, we will do it. If it is necessary to change all the laws to face corruption, I will do it," he said.
    Under pressure because of economic woes and a narrow win in presidential elections, Maduro's corruption crackdown kicked off with government program called "Efficiency or Nothing," which involves undercover state inspectors investigating claims of corruption in publicly funded projects and organisations.
    But it has suffered from a widespread public perception that "big fish" with political connections have been spared.
    Attacking Maduro's corruption crackdown as a mere face-saving gesture, opposition leader Henrique Capriles called on the Venezuelan president to tackle high-level corruption within his government.

    "The corrupt, and it must be said again and again, are in the government. If we want to end corruption in our country, we have to get rid of this government. They are the ones who involved in corruption and all they're doing is just washing their faces, but washing your face with what? Confront the real problems and the serious problems the people of Venezuela are going through," he declared.
    To be granted decree powers, Maduro would need the votes of three-fifths of the National Assembly, or 99 deputies. His ruling Socialist Party holds 98 seats, so he would need just one independent lawmaker to back him.
    However, opposition congressman William Davila slammed a lack of political will among "Chavistas" to confront high-level corruption within their own ranks for over a decade.

    "He (Maduro) doesn't need to apply for special powers to fight corruption. In the past 14 years there has been no political will to fight the "boliburgueses" (new bourgeois created by the Venezuelan government), to fight against these people around the government who have created immense fortunes and who have bought communication mediums and have become rich from public office," he said.
    In its latest annual index of perceptions of corruption, global watchdog Transparency International ranked Venezuela as the ninth most corrupt country in the world.
    The late Chavez governed for months using decree powers that he requested from lawmakers in 2010 to push through reconstruction and relief projects after floods left nearly 140,000 homeless.
    At the time, critics accused him of exploiting the disaster to sideline the Assembly before the arrival of a raft of opposition legislators elected that year.
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