Venezuelan Congress Expands Chavez’s Powers

The pro-government Congress on Tuesday granted President Hugo Chavez special fast-track powers to decree a wide range of laws without parliamentary debate, as the fractured opposition complained that the bill hands too much power to the president.

The so-called enabling law allows Chavez one year to decree 37 laws on topics ranging from public finance to land reform. Chavez’s leftist coalition controls 60% of Congress.

All opposition parties voted against the bill, saying it contains laws too sensitive to leave in the hands of the president. The land reform law will determine when and how the government can usurp private property for “national interests.”

Chavez also will be able to pass a law that reforms the way foreign companies operating Venezuela’s state-owned oil fields are taxed.

The president said he sought the special powers to alleviate Congress’ workload. Congress has two years to adapt hundreds of laws to a new constitution approved by Venezuelans last year.

Chavez, a former military officer who says he is leading a revolution on behalf of the poor, has radically transformed Venezuela’s political institutions since taking office in February 1999. Through a series of elections and referendums, he pushed through the new constitution and replaced the opposition-controlled Congress and Supreme Court.

He is now seeking to reform the country’s labor unions, a move labor activists say tramples on the rights of private organizations.

Chavez says he is dismantling a corrupt and elitist system, but his opponents and some international observers say his reforms have dealt a blow to Venezuela’s 41-year-old democracy.

This is the second time Chavez has sought and won the enabling law. Last year, the opposition-controlled Congress granted him the fast-track powers to pass legislation aimed at jump-starting Venezuela’s recession-ridden economy.