Perhaps
nothing can represent more the state of illegality in our poor country that
Chavez' request last Friday for the Tascon list to disappear. Here is the
President of a country asking his
followers to "bury" a list that has been used to violate the civil and
human rights of Venezuelans who disagree with their political point of view.
For those
that may not know what I am talking about, a Deputy from Chavez' MVR party,
Luis Tascon (Petkoff calls him Adolfo Tascon in Hitler's memory!) placed the
database of all the 4 million people that signed for Chavez' recall on his website (since removed). The list
became a standard to harass opposition people, from denying them a passport, a
job, all the way to firing them from a civil service position.
Chavez can
now say that the list "played an important role at a certain point in time" but
that is over. To me it means they used it to intimidate people, violate their
rights and screw them, but hey! We can forget about it now, we don't need it,
we are going to build bridges to the opposition.
But what
about those that were fired? Those whose rights were violated? Those who were
denied the most essential services which they are entitled to by right? What
about that
silly Article 21 of the Constitution that simply says:
"All
people are the same in front of the law"
Very
simple, no? "All people are the same" leaves no room for interpretation, but it
actually goes even further, just in case:
"1. Discriminations
based on race, sex, beliefs, social conditions or those that in general have as
their objective to nullify or reduce the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of
condition of equality, of the rights and freedom of a person, will not be
allowed"
Also very clear:
WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. But it goes even further than this:
"2.The law
will guarantee the judicial and administrative conditions so that equality
under the law becomes real and effective, will adopt positive measures in favor
of groups that may be discriminated, segregated or vulnerable, will specially
protect those persons that for one of the reasons specified before, will find itself
in manifest weakness and WILL SANCTION the abuses and mistreatment that is
committed against them"
Can it be
clearer than that? The LAW means the Attorney General or the People's
Ombudsman, neither of which ahs opened their mouth to complain about these
abuses. Despite their constitutional mandate "to adopt positive measures".
Moreover, there
should be SANCTIONS for these abuses and these should reach Deputy Tascon, the
fascist that placed the list on his page so that everyone could use it and gloated
then that he was distributing it in CD's, so that everyone could identify (i.e.
discriminate) those that were in it. It should sanction those like the
President of FOGADE that fired people base on this list. In fact the list
became quite pervasive, even
in Academic institutions the list was made publicly hierarchically so that people
would know who was against Chavez and who was not, at all levels at that Institution.
And as
Petkoff's has been documenting so vividly with names and ID cards, the list has
been used for firings (More than 200 people in Fogade alone), hiring and contracting.
And Deputy
Adolfo Tascon puts on his best "pendejo" face and gloats that he removed the list
long ago from his site, saying that he told Chavez people were abusing it and
even has the audacity to say that the list should have been secret, something the
opposition, always complained about, when the signatures were being gathered,
but changed nothing.
In any
country with any resemblance of legality and decency, both the Attorney General
and the People's Ombudsman, should have long ago introduced recourses in front
of the Court’s to stop the abuses. (People went to the People's Ombudsman
office to denounce abuses and were told that they had more important things to
do) Neither did anything. Today, they have the open testimony of the President,
calling it the Tascon list, they should open procedures against Chavez who
allowed it to happen and against Tascon who did it. And they should call on all
of those that were affected to come forward.
Of course,
none of this will happen. They will both shut up in the best servile style that
has characterized them in the last four years. There will be no Justice, nor
decency. There is neither in this Government.
9:55:33 PM 
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