Machado gassed by National Guard at peaceful demonstration in her support today
It may be easy to try to dismiss the removal of Maria Corina Machado as a duly elected Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly as another step in the imposition of the Maduro Dictatorship. But it is much more than that. If Leopoldo Lopez’ jailing was a sign that Maduro was not willing to walk the fine line between Democracy and Dictatorship that Chávez walked for years, Maria Corina’s absurd impeachment by the Venezuelan Supreme Court represents a break with any sort Constitutional order. This is not a fuzzy charge, there is no basis for the decision. There is nothing gray about what the lowest Court of the land has decided. There was no due process, no right for Ms. Machado to defend herself and a complete ignorance about the Constitution says.
The Government simply wanted to get rid of Machado as part of its confrontational plan. Whatever that may be.
The charge against Machado was begun by the man who would like to be the Dictator, the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly Diosdado Cabello. All that Cabello is missing today seems to be a little Hitler-like mustache to play the part to perfection. Cabello stated that Machado had violated Art. 197 of the Constitution, by accepting to speak for the Government of Panama at the Organization of American States. That article says that the Deputies will hold the job as full time jobs and devote all their time exclusively to the position.
First of all, Ms. Machado did not occupy another position by speaking in front of the OAS as a representative of the country of Panama, which graciously gave her the time that the majority of OAS members did not want to give her to present the case for that half (or more?) of Venezuela that is being ignored by the Maduro Government. You could say and I would say, that she was actually doing her job. In fact, none other than Jose Miguel Insulza, the Head of the OAS, has publicly stated that Ms. Machado was not speaking as a representative of Panama, but in her role as an elected Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly.
But even worse, the Venezuelan lowest Court actually justifies what Machado did at the OAS when it says:
Deputies can not exercise or accept other positions…except for educational activities, academic activities, accidental or of assistance….
What Machado did was certainly accidental and in no way was she representing another country, getting paid for it or not doing what the people who voted for her wanted her to do, whether Maduro or Diosdado like it or not.
And clearly for the Court, their words are a command.
But think about it. Machado was removed or impeached by the Court, without being allowed to defend herself. In fact, Insulza’s declaration that she acted as a Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly should have been enough to have the Court ignore the accusation against her.
But beyond this, Maduro, who was questionably elected President, with a promised audit of the vote shuffled under the rug, gets rid of an opposition Deputy who was elected with over 80% of the total vote. Ms. Machado could have been removed by the procedures that the Constitution establishes for it, just like Maduro can also be impeached. Instead, the Dictators chose the short cut, getting rid of her, just because…
What happens now to the only argument to defend Maduro that some people have: He was elected democratically.
Was he? Really? So was Machado, she really was elected, and the law and the Constitution were bypassed by the Dictator and his understudy to serve their purposes.
And that alone is enough to call for the removal of Maduro. Because democracy is not only about elections. It is about the daily exercise of democratic principles. The “people” may even support a Dictatorship, but Venezuela has a Constitution, a Democratic one at that and its precepts and tenets have to be respected, whether you would like Maduro (or Diosdado!) to be a Dictator.
In fact, they are so cynical, that a Chavista Deputy of the same National Assembly Adel El Zabayar, joined the forces defending Assad in that country for a while, as you can see in this picture. Not one Chavista, let alone the Venezuelan lowest Court said a beep about it. Talk about double standard and discrimination!
Thus, the rest is just wishful thinking by those that want Maduro’s Dictatorship to stay in power to satisfy their own personal ideological, monetary or personal reasons. But they have nothing to do with democracy, human rights and the Venezuelan Constitution.
The Devil's Excrement 
April 8, 2014 at 9:54 pm
Don`t Forget
April 10, 2014 at 12:53 pm
Yah. 🙂
April 8, 2014 at 1:17 pm
Soldiers sent in from Kiev to quell the uprising in Kharkov. The soldiers are on the white bus.
April 6, 2014 at 8:17 pm
WHO IS AFRAID OF THE PNB?
Viral video shows the moment the same lady is confronting the PNB.
April 6, 2014 at 7:54 pm
Today in El Cafetal, Caracas.
April 4, 2014 at 10:59 pm
The Russian military is coming to pay you a visit. (They need the sun.) Word is they will be practicing in Cuba and Nicaragua too. Source : The McLaughlin Group, 4/4/2014 US PBS TV show ‘prediction’ by John McLaughlin, the show host at the end of the show.
April 3, 2014 at 11:25 pm
I fear, and i do not, don´t fear we!
April 3, 2014 at 8:34 pm
My wife just came back from some #SOS Venezuela church vigil/prayer session in Sunrise, Florida.
I asked whether the priest was taking donations to supply the opposition with Molotov cocktails, but unfortunately, her answer was no.
Feel good events aren’t exactly the same as do good events.
And Molotov cocktails are the only things that will do ANY good these days.
April 4, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Actually Ira, there are several events being held in the US and elsewhere that are to collect $$ and goods that will be channeled straight to the students in Venz.
Money freed up from buying food will probably go towards other “goods”
April 3, 2014 at 7:47 pm
NO RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY….
Today at the UCV campus in Caracas.
April 3, 2014 at 4:37 pm
Only one thing communists understand – crying about repression when they are not in power and imposing it when they are. And they seem to enjoy killing anyone who disagrees with them.
April 3, 2014 at 2:22 pm
Right now, Miguel’s head is about to explode:
He has to write about both the new food rationing system, and the mandate about selling the houses.
April 3, 2014 at 2:22 pm
Dictatorships aren’t only hard on the people. They are a bitch for journalists!
April 3, 2014 at 8:20 am
I am glad that you actually recalled the sirian deputy….it is so incredible, a deputy goes to fight with a foreign government, nothing happens. A deputy goes to talk in an international setting, she gets impeached.
April 4, 2014 at 12:09 pm
Again:
Not to argue against the idea that Chavistas wipe their arses with our constitution, but in that specific case El Zabayar asked for, and received, permission to be absent.
So in that case, the formalities were followed.
I only say this because there are plenty other examples of Chavismo not giving a shit, but to use this as an example can easily be rebutted.
April 3, 2014 at 3:45 am
I just learned that one of my best friends was detained in Caracas today on terrorism charges for his involvement in the protests. The PNB even did a press conference showing all the equipment he owns for his personal protection company to prove that he and his brother were plotting who knows what kinds of acts against the valiant policemen and GNB keeping the streets calm.
I hope MO won’t mind if I share the petition for their release here:
http://chn.ge/1sbnHU2
April 3, 2014 at 1:12 am
Finally someone who is sharing the truth about the dectator Madura and his ignorance of Venezuela constitution. Another point about all the people who have been killed, let’s remember only the government has weapons. The only way people have to protect themselves by building obstructions in the roads to keep the armed thugs on motorcycles out of their neighbors. Food is scarce, the military and police are infiltrated with Cubans. Maduro didn’t win the elections there are many pictures of the military and police burning boxes of votes. It’s not about the opposition, it’s about the majority of Venezuela wanting their country to be rid of the thugs who seized power illegaly. Please continue to speak the truth and spread the words of what is really happening in Venezuela
April 2, 2014 at 8:48 pm
This is key to making a case:
“In fact, they are so cynical, that a Chavista Deputy of the same National Assembly Adel El Zabayar, joined the forces defending Assad in that country for a while, as you can see in this picture. Not one Chavista, let alone the Venezuelan lowest Court said a beep about it. Talk about double standard and discrimination!”
April 2, 2014 at 9:19 pm
Chavista’s make laws on demand and do not believe the law of demand.
April 4, 2014 at 12:09 pm
Not to argue against the idea that Chavistas wipe their arses with our constitution, but in that specific case El Zabayar asked for, and received, permission to be absent.
So in that case, the formalities were followed.
I only say this because there are plenty other examples of Chavismo not giving a shit, but to use this as an example can easily be rebutted.
April 5, 2014 at 12:33 pm
So he received permission to break the law. Are you kidding?
April 6, 2014 at 4:27 am
I wish I was kidding, but I’m not.
http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2013/09/30/diputado-adel-el-zabayar-regresa-a-venezuela-luego-de-participar-en-brigadas-para-defender-a-siria/
April 2, 2014 at 3:50 pm
The government behavior is really disgusting, but combined with the youth opposition and the repression thrust upon them, sentiment in the region is changing and so at an accelerating pace: the Colombian press is becoming more vocal is its criticism of Maduro and the relative passivity of the Santos administration, MC Machado recently addressed the Brazilian Congress receiving open support from the leading opposition presidential candidate, finally respected Brazilian intellectuals are saying out loud that their government’s tacit support reflects the interests of the PT and not of those of their country.
I still think that Venezuelans will need to do the heavy lifting, but the Maduro government’s actions will be more closely scrutinized and defections from inner circle Chavistas will increasingly be encouraged. For example, outside pressure may well focus on the liberation of L Lopez.
At the end of the day, if Chavismo can be made to choose between Cuba on the hand hand and Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru on the other, the outcome will be clear.
April 2, 2014 at 12:13 pm
OT:
Marcos Polesel aseguró que
la única salida posible
en estados como el
Táchira,
Mérida,
Carabobo,
Lara,
Nueva Esparta y
Zulia,
es el secesionismo.
“Dudo mucho que los ciudadanos del
Táchira o Mérida, hoy digan
´Ok ya está bueno,
nos rendimos y
regresamos a vivir como antes,
dadas las graves circunstancias
por las cuales estados como el
Táchira y Mérida están atravesando,
no existe una vía de retorno a la situación inicial”, indicó.
April 2, 2014 at 11:19 am
[…] (HT: devil) […]
April 2, 2014 at 9:34 am
And where is Capriles? What a dumb little wimp..
April 2, 2014 at 11:58 am
For a guy that had the balls to wade into crowds during the election campaign he has now turned into a pacifist.
I suspect that the regime has told him outright that he will go to jail if he supports the resistance.
Also his super obsession with religion has something to do with it. That always made me nervous about him even though I supported him.
Looks like I was right.
April 2, 2014 at 12:18 pm
About 7 million Venezuelans voted for that wimp, for nothing.
April 2, 2014 at 8:57 am
Railing at the lack of Democracy is too long in coming.It would have been so much easier to rid ourselves of these thugs before they became so entrenched.Now we are paying to the price of not wanting to see the obvious and the price is going to be a big one.
April 2, 2014 at 8:25 am
1) The Court based their oppinion on 4 Articles of the Constitution, but another set of Articles that says how you can get rid of a Deputy was not used even though it has been used before against other gone Deputies .
2) The other funny stuff was that at the end of the TSJ´s decision was that even though it was rejected because of the people that had presented the motion, it was because of its importance because it was dealing with matters related to a Deputy they took the case anyway.
I dont know how many times the Court has decided to reject motions against the Presidency because it was presented by people that donot have the capacity to do it, this is because of a Deputy wich is less important than a President and the Court took it anyway. How are they going to respond when Walter Márquez says that Maduro is at least Colombian because his mother was Colombian and as such a dual citinzenship can not preside in Venezuela
3) By using the Court to remove elected people, even Maduro can be removed .so Cabello could move in any moment
April 2, 2014 at 7:51 am
No. I beg to differ. The most shocking thing in all of this is the SILENCE coming from places like Brasilia, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Santiago. Where are YOU Dilma? Where’s your voice? Your outrage? Isn’t YOUR own personal history one of an all powerful state selecting individuals as an example for the rest? Torture. Jailing. Er, weren’t you of them? In your youth? Why the silence,…now? The hypocrisy here, looking at you Dilma, is simply shocking, overwhelming.
April 3, 2014 at 7:56 pm
Brazil can forget a place on the permanent Security Council of the UN when they can not even speak up against the horror in their backyard….They are no where near ready. This defines it.
April 2, 2014 at 12:35 am
They want to show that the tyrants can do whatever they feel like doing Constitution or not. If there is something the tyrants want the Supreme Court will “legalize” it overnight.
When will the Supreme Court will have a determination about the legality of Diosdado Cabello getting an Army promotion while being a member of the National Assembly?
Diosdado’s promotion violates articles 328 and 330 of the Constitution but where was the overnight sentence regarding this? It happens that this is something the tyrants don’t like so it will not happen.
The message is clear: They now own the country.
April 1, 2014 at 11:34 pm
Its hard not to puke reading this!
April 1, 2014 at 11:10 pm
That picture with MCM being gassed makes a good cover for a book called “CHAVISMO: ASCENSION AND FALL – 1999/2014”
April 1, 2014 at 11:05 pm
Peace through strength. Venezuela needs to rid of itself of the Cuban interlopers. Unfortunately, they won’t go without a fight. And they won’t switch sides – if for no other reason that their extended families will be held hostage (and abused) in Cuba.
The sooner the opposition strategy develops based upon this line of thought, the sooner Venezuela will be free. I’ve long said that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Sadly, I’m right.
April 2, 2014 at 12:35 pm
Someone with real cojones (forget Caprilito, little wimp) will have to step up and be the leader, Leopoldo is in jail, Diego Arria and Octavio are too old and tired, MCM has the courage but gets slapped around and then silenced.
And, it will also take even more misery, murders, escasez, desempleo, so people will finally REALLY get fed up.
April 2, 2014 at 11:31 pm
You forgot about the person herself (or himself) having to be a real badass and killing quite a few of the ‘new’ opposition – the red-blooded true believers and the parasites, none of whom will go quietly. Sadly, this is what makes a Pinochet or Fujimori a necessity. And as both demonstrated, there is a real danger in giving another strong man the keys to the kingdom.
In short, Venezuela is F$*ked. Can’t really blame Chavez, he was merely riding the rocket. The fuse was lit long ago, and was fueled by the Devil’s Excrement. Chavez only accelerated the process.
April 1, 2014 at 9:39 pm