Happy New Year! Aporrea has the latest presidential caper from Venezuela, and it’s a stunner:
President Hugo Chavez announced that as a gesture of good will, he would release a decree of amnesty to persons in violation of public order and who had been convicted of offences as follows:
*For the writing of the decree of the de facto government of the dictator Pedro Carmona in April 2002.
*For signing said decree.
*For the violent takeover of the government of Merida on the 12th of April 2002.
*For the illegitimate imprisonment of the former minster of the Interior and Justice, Rodriguez Chacin, on the 12th of April 2002.
*For criminal incitement to military rebellion prior to December 2, 2007.
*For the events of April 11, 2002, on Puente Llaguno which were not crimes against humanity.
*For the violent takeover of the mayoral office of Junin in Tachira state, April 2002.
*For the violent takeover of the government of Tachira state, April 2002.
*Break-in (police raid) at the home of National Assembly deputy Iris Varela, April 2002.
*For the violent takeover of the Palace of Justice in Tachira, April 2002.
*For the violent takeover of VTV, April 12, 2002.
*For acts of violence in the petroleum lockout and sabotage of 2002-3.
*For all accused of civil rebellion prior to December 2, 2007.
The amnesty decree will be released today in the official gazette.
The announcement came on the state channel, Venezolana de Television (VTV) during a special program in which President Chavez called in to comment on the process of release for FARC hostages in Colombia. The president said that the year 2008 was to be the year of the “three Rs: revision, rectification, and restarting.”
He said he hoped that this measure would be well received by the sectors of the opposition.
Asked by journalist Vanessa Davies how his supporters would interpret this decision, he affirmed that Chavistas are noble people and would receive the declaration in the spirit in which it was made. “I am sending a message to those who seek the path of peace,” he said.
Translation mine. Video at the original link.
Dude! Stop with the kindness and leniency already, or people will have to stop calling you a dictator! Shit, I’m a total democrat, and I’m inclined to be tougher on these people than you!
Please, Chavecito…think of your image!
