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And will silence reign?
Those who thought that there would be no more bad news after the 26 unconstitutional laws enacted via the special presidential powers would do well to continue lending an ear to the announcements made by Hugo Chávez and his acolytes entrenched in the different branches of government.On the one hand, his National Assembly says it is ready to continue approving laws right and left to round out the communist project clearly outlined in the decree-laws enacted via the special powers.On the other, Chávez feels emboldened thanks to all the powers he granted himself in this package of laws and he is furious at the harsh criticisms leveled at those same law from all Venezuela?s democratic sectors. This has prompted him to threaten to pass a new Telecommunications Law that will allow him to leave Venezuelans incommunicado by suspending all forms of ?broadcasting, emission or reception of signals, signs, written matter, images, sounds or information of any kind via cable.?The Supreme Tribunal of Justice has already endorsed the organic nature of the future Telecommunications, Computer Services and Postal Services Law, so that now all that is needed is its approval by the National Assembly and the President?s signature.This draconian law will give Chávez the power to silence all ?voice, data, and video communications that have been invented or will be invented in the future,? when ?law and order or the security or interests of the Nation so demand.? The danger lies in the fact that the law does not define these concepts, so leaving the President a broad, discretionary, and arbitrary margin for their interpretation. Once Chávez signs the new law, he will be able to assume absolute power in order to suspend, whenever he sees fit, any kind of information broadcast, from television, radio, Internet, and mobile telephony (including text messages) to the general telecommunication routes and networks. This law openly violates Article 337 of the Constitution, which orders that no one in Venezuela shall suspend any fundamental human right, not even in a state of emergency or a situation of national unrest. This same rule also explicitly establishes the right to information as one of the human rights that have to be respected. However, it seems that the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, the National Assembly, and the President of the Republic himself have no qualms about disregarding the 1999 Constitution, yet again.Chávez?s intention is more than clear. The President, like all dictators, knows that the strength of the democratic sector lies in information. He is also aware that the only form of attack open to opponents of his authoritarianism is to keep people informed of the violations of civil, economic, and political rights and that the only way to halt these totalitarian advances is to get people to understand that rights are won through struggle and with persistence and bravery.