Has the Venezuelan government gone too far in Machado case? voxxi/2014/03/27/maria-corina-machado-loses-seat/ Leading opposition politician Maria Corina Machado, center, greets supporters upon her arrival for a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 26, 2014. The head of Venezuela’s congress, Diosdado Cabello, said Monday that Machado, who was stripped of her parliament seat, violated the constitution by addressing the Organization of American States last week at the invitation of Panama. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) In the midst of Venezuela’s recent turmoil and violence, several figures, among them Maria Corina Machado, have shot to prominence, but this also makes them a bigger target of the official party. Machado is no stranger to controversy, but now it seems she has lost her job as a legislator in the National Assembly because she is so disliked by the president of that institution, Diosdado Cabello, a fearsome force in domestic politics. In what could be construed as a trumped-up charge, earlier this week Cabello accused Machado of having accepted to act as an alternate delegate for Panama at a regional OAS meeting, “which is incompatible with the National Constitution,” he said. He then stated that Machado would henceforth be stripped of her powers as a deputy, including salary and parking privileges. SEE ALSO: Why is a former Miss Universe bound and gagged? Machado is one Tough Cookie Machado struck back at the idea of losing her seat during a Caracas rally Wednesday, having just returned from Peru. “The only authority that can get rid of me is the electorate and not the rancid group that Cabello directs,” she told a throng of supporters in Chacaito. In April 2013 partisan enmity in the National Assembly grew to such proportions that a melee broke out on the floor between government and opposition legislators in which Machado received a nasty black eye. “Mr. Cabello has violated all the laws of the nation,” Machado added yesterday in Plaza Brion, in likely reference to the strongman’s legendary corrupt dealings. Where will this conflict go? Has the Nicolas Maduro government bit off more than it can chew in the Machado case? Will there be damaging international repercussions if Cabello’s order is allowed to stand? “It is apparently a very personal matter between Cabello and Machado, and there is no legal basis for stripping her of her powers; in fact, it is unconstitutional,” says Robert Bottome, director of Caracas’ VenEconomy Publications Group. In this analyst’s opinion, Cabello is the school bully who is dead set on beating down Machado, with little chance of a formal retraction of his decision. Demonstrators take cover form clouds of tear gas fired by the Bolivarian National Police during an anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, March 20, 2014. That day dawned with two more opposition politicians, San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos and San Diego Mayor Enzo Scarano, behind bars. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) A Cause Celebre? Bottome believes that the case will help the cause of the opposition abroad in terms of being a key reference point, “a cause celebre,” much like that of Maduro having jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez soon after the current unrest was unleashed in the aftermath of the first shooting deaths February 12. “With every abuse, there is a fresh evidence that there is a dictatorship in Venezuela,” Machado said on Twitter. The Cabello move could also backfire on the government in helping Machado or Lopez – today friends if political rivals – in their quest for the presidency down the line, according to VenEconomy.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 08:39:09 +0000
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