MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bishops praise Chavez for back stepping on his “snitch law”

Archbishop Reinaldo del Prette from the Venezuelan city of Valencia has praised the decision by President Hugo Chavez to review a controversial law on national intelligence that some say would violate fundamental rights such as the seal of confession.

"To err is human and President Chavez was clear about it, and therefore we have to wait for the commission which he said he would establish to review the law and adapt it in conformity with Human Rights, as the national Constitution stipulates," the archbishop told reporters. He denied that the Church wants a seat on the commission saying, "We are not experts in intelligence and counterintelligence. Our mission is to prop up and maintain the doctrine of love, forgiveness and understanding of our neighbor." "I have studied that law in detail and it is not suitable for a deeply democratic country," Archbishop del Prette said. "But because of the statements of Cardinal Jorge Urosa of Caracas, I came to the conclusion that in reality, the seal of confession could be violated". Nevertheless, "we priests are willing to be martyrs of the Law on Intelligence and Counterintelligence, similarly to what we read in a novel that was mandatory reading at the Minor Seminary of Valencia". The law obliged people to co-operate with intelligence agencies. Refusal to reveal information was punishable with up to six years in jail. Chavez said he recognized he had made errors when proclaiming the law by decree, adding that it breached the country's constitution. The Venezuelan president had argued that the new law was needed to protect national security - to prevent opponents of his socialist revolution from destabilizing the country and his government. But in a clear U-turn, Mr Chavez decided to withdraw the law completely. He said that his socialist government would not accept persecution of anyone, announcing that the law would be completely re-worked. Human rights activists, political opponents and the Roman Catholic Church, all expressed concerns about what they saw as a heavy handed, Cuban style attempt to control the population. Cartoonists nicknamed the document the "Getsapo" law. It is a play on the words Gestapo and sapo, which translates literally as frog but more colloquially in Venezuela as snitch.