Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday signed into law a
legislation that will grant him special powers in the next 18
months to legislate by decrees to accelerate reforms in broad
areas.
Chavez said "the law is designed to foster national development
in the 11 areas," including energy, transformation of state
institutions, finance and taxation, national security and
defense.
Chavez rejected accusations, published in the Venezuelan media
and reiterated by US President George W. Bush in a television
interview, that the special powers entitled by the Enabling Law
could lead to tyranny.
Chavez said that the law is an essential legal device for the
transformation of Venezuela.
Venezuelan legislature, the National Assembly, unanimously
passed the law in a special session in Caracas's central Bolivar
Square on Wednesday, aimed at what the president called picking up
pace in building the 21st century socialism in his country.
Chavez has mapped out five "motors" to achieve the goal, which
are the Enabling Law, constitutional reform, launch of new drive
for Bolivarian popular education, a new geometry of power for the
national map so that marginalized poorer areas would be more
included, and explosion of communal power to give more power to
communal councils.
Chavez, who was re-elected president of Venezuela on Dec. 3,
2006, took the oath of office on Jan. 10, promising to create a new
socialist political, economic and social model in his country.
(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)
