Chavez's Opponent, Manuel Rosales, Announces Law and Order Reform Platform (Translation)

Caracas -- The unitary opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, formulated today the security plans which form an integral part of his governing strategy and promised to create and preside over a National Council of Justice and Security.

He explained that this body "would render an accounting of the security of the country and will incorporate within itself the President of the TSJ [Supreme Tribunal of Justice], the General Prosecutor of the Republic, the Public Defender,² and the Ministers of Defense, Interior, and Justice."

Furthermore he announced a "true disarmament plan" [to be carried out] with those operatives who are necessary. "The program itself is going to designate an exchange of your firearm for a special voucher of five million bolivares."

"That is, to every person who may have a firearm, and brings it, we will give him five million bolivares so that it is put to work, making an investment or improving his house, but that he leaves this firearm behind."

He detailed that these arms will be destroyed in public acts with the end of avoiding their resale or return to criminals.

"[The government plan] will also establish a confidential system of investigations and rewards, with an important rewards board. Always protecting information," Rosales added.

The leader explained that thanks to this service people will be able, for example, to turn in those who sell drugs in the barrios, those who steal cars, and murderers, because the guarantee exists that the information will be confidential.

As far as impunity goes,³ he promised "absolute autonomy for the Public Ministry and the Judicial Branch, the depoliticization of these bodies, and clean performance so that there will be justice in Venezuela."

He stressed that they will create 700 new prosecutor's offices and 1,000 penal judges throughout the country, to break up the congestion [in the courts] and to accelerate the processing of cases.

With relation to border politics,⁴ he ratified his commitment to create agreements with Colombia, Brazil, and other countries to safeguard neighboring areas.

Moreover he demonstrated himself a partisan to depoliticize the National Armed Forces.

"Let us leave no doubt that we are going to throw out the guerrillas, paramilitaries, and criminals from our frontiers," he promised.

"I will take immediate measures. The first is the honest, not political nor partisan nor retaliatory nor privileged, evaluation of all police bodies in Venezuela, for their purification, but a true purification; where those who receive patronage do not exist. In such a way that the honest policemen will remain, but the corrupt ones will go immediately and we will be able to bring criminal policemen under the order of tribunals of justice."

He assured that those who remain in the security bodies will enter into a formation process. He clarified that the deficit of policemen in Venezuela will be 150 thousand, because of his promise to purify, modernize, and clean up those bodies in which these functionaries work, as well as activating the selection of the 150 thousand who are needed.

He also added that he will address the presupposed "need" of universities so that they create police formation schools. He affirmed that the money dedicated to that activity will be tripled compared with that which the acting government dedicates.

"I believe in neither the academies nor in the police formation organizations who until now have failed the country. They have failed in the selection and they have failed in the formation [of police organizations]. Therefore I have already initiated contacts with the university authorities in Zulia, Los Andes, the UCV [Universidad Central de Venezuela], the University of the East [Universidad de Oriente], Los Llanos, Carabobo, and Lisandro Alvarado [Universidad Centroccidental de Lisandro Alvarado]."

He confirmed that the interior governing bodies have to direct the regional police and the municipalities the local police. "But they have to look at salaries, payments, the social security and housing system of the police who will be directly assigned by the national executive for each one of the interior governing bodies and local governments."

"We are going immediately to the creation of a national police specializing [in the fight] against organized crime (kidnapping, narcotics trafficking, vehicular theft, and financial crimes). Not a political police nor one to eliminate the rights and powers of governors and mayors."

He promised to modernize and digitalize communications between the police of one state with another. "I am going to create the National Center of National Communication as a single body in all the national territory. With computerized information and all the technological resources."

He demonstrated that with this system if one person was detained in Caracas, but the vehicle was bought in Maracaibo, one will know immediately the prior information and dates of the theft.

"We will establish with the vehicle assembly factories, who will not be able to sell one more vehicle without this satellite information system, with a recognition chip (...) And for those cars which are already circulating on the streets we will install them with government resources so that they incorporate themselves in this system."

At the beginning of the speech he indicated: "I come to speak to the country as a family father, as a government official with experience, who has experienced different facets of public activity. But fundamentally I come with all Venezuelans having a feeling, on the one hand, of anger and frustration and on the other of inspiration and hope."

He made reference to publicity campaigns in which supposedly in Venezuela the people give orders. "Lie!, in Venezuela the criminal, the guerrilla, and organized crime give orders."

In Venezuela an average of 200 people lose their lives weekly, he said of the "gloomy" counts that the acting government supplies. "200 people who are left in the streets, on and behind the roads of Venezuela, the sorrow, the widows, the children, the orphans, and the hopelessness."

For Rosales is not about politics nor the electoral campaign, only the life of "our people."

He lamented the recent murder of the Cuban doctor, Raquel Perez. "If I had been the President of Venezuela I would not have protested only to the police bodies so that they take care to watch certain persons or groups in the country. No sir! No Sir! All we Venezuelans have the right to be protected by the government and by the Venezuelan state."

The presentation began with a video which reflects problems such as insecurity and the lack of opportunity in a petroleum-producing country. "No more numbers in the red!" was the promise of the audiovisual production.

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Translator's Notes:

¹ The Bolivar is the national currency of Venezuela.

² As part of Venezuela's 1999 constitution, the office of Defensor del Pueblo, or "Public Defender" as I have translated it, was created to (supposedly) protect human rights against "entrenched oligarchical power." The position is sometimes referred to in English as the "Ombudsman for Human Rights."

³ When Rosales says "impunity" he is referring to his charge that many of Chavez's supporters enjoy virtual immunity from prosecution when committing crimes because Chavez's government has retaliated against officials who have arrested and prosecuted his supporters.

⁴ There are many "frontier disputes" involving Venezuela. Colombia is upset over the way in which the FARC guerrillas and drug traffickers enter and exit Colombia across the Venezuelan border, and Brazil has similar concerns over drug trafficking and smuggling.

I am translating this article so that we can all get a look at how the campaign against Chavez is being waged within Venezuela.

It is obvious from Rosales's viewpoint that crime is a major issue in Venezuela. I have known for some time that law and order issues would be important in the campaign, but I must admit that until I began to see some statistics quite recently -- thank you Founding Father for your posts and links -- that even I had very little understanding of the true depth of the problem. What I find particularly striking, though not unexpected in my personal opinion, is that Rosales implicates Chavez personally in the growth of crime in Venezuela due to his (Chavez's) politicization of the police and justice systems. Rosales has been getting some traction recently, see my opening comments in the last thread, and I am wondering if the analysis of the problem he is advancing above is one of the reasons why his poll numbers are rising in Venezuela. Politics and ideology are one thing, but when basic law and order issues come to the forefront people begin voting because of their fears, and this kind of dynamic may have the potential to change the electoral landscape. I'm not trying to instill false hope in anyone, because I still rate the chances of a Rosales win over Chavez as "not good" right now, but this race may become more interesting than many of us initially anticipated.

THanks so much for this very valuable and important info. Keep me pinged. It would be the most delectable kind of poetic justice, in light of what has happened in the past week, for Chavez and the image he left us with to be deposed from the world stage. Even better if Castro were to croak at the same time. I am so impressed by Rosales, and I hope we are behind the scenes somewhere very quietly supporting him---any other presence and Chavezistas will make it look like a CIA coup is being imposed on the Venezuelan people. I hope both Danny Glover and Citgo are soon to be heartbroken.

Just to let you know, evidently Univision is intending to give Rosales some very wide airplay throughout Latin America. I frequently sit down and watch about the first 15 minutes of their 10:00 p.m. (Central) news broadcast just to catch up on the latest Latin American headlines and they do not let much slip by that would be favorable to Rosales. And last night I got my first good look at him, as he was interviewed by the news anchor for about five minutes, going over everything Chavez did this past week.

I noticed some subtle things that might escape a lot of people. When speaking in this interview Rosales came off as very literate and intelligent in his Spanish pronunciation and diction. I've seen him use that "Caribbean" type of Spanish accent in the various short clips from news bytes I've watched over the past few weeks, and the two of these taken together tell me that he knows how to speak to the "Venezuelan in the street" if I can put it that way. In terms of the content of what he said, he was most critical of Chavez for not speaking to the problems which confront Venezuela on the world stage; especially economic underdevelopment and international narcotics trafficking. He also expressed his disappointment that Venezuela's President would make himself into a comic figure before the entire world, embarrassing "all Venezuelans."

I don't know how much of an impact the treatment Rosales will be receiving from the international media will have upon the electorate in Venezuela, but I'm certain it will not hurt. My guess is that it will only have a modest influence. But it will help Rosales in giving him an opportunity to say that his candidacy will help to "restore" Venezuela to respectability. We'll just have to wait and see how much good comes of it.

I've put you on the ping list and I appreciate your offer to help with translating news items. I consider it possible that as the Venezuelan election draws near in December there may be a rush of news stories which might interest the board and I may be contacting you then for some assistance. I'm a software developer who works under contract so my own availability varies from time to time, just to let you know my personal situation. But thanks cll.

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