MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez preparing the field for Nov state and city elections

Columns marched through the capital Caracas to protest a package of laws that expand Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez powers while a delegation from opposition parties delivered a document at the Organization of American States stating that the latest decisions are a “coup” against the rule of law and the Constitution.

Shouting chants and waving balloons reading "play fair" protestors complained that some of the laws resemble the constitutional reforms sought by President Chavez and which voters rejected at the polls last December. Chavez approved the package of 26 laws on July 31, the last day of special legislative powers granted him by the National Assembly. The Venezuelan president said the new rules, which increase government control over food production and commerce and create civilian militias, among other things, will strengthen the country's institutions. The political parties' document is addressed to OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and refers to the legal system in Venezuela which will now depend from the will of the president and "is not guaranteed by an independent judicial branch". "We are warning OAS that this is a direct attack on the rule of the law and the rights of Venezuelan citizens", said Antonio Ledezma president of the opposition party Alianza Bravo Pueblo. Demonstrators also railed against a Supreme Court ruling last week which opens the way to ban 272 officials allegedly suspected of corruption, including some key Chavez opponents, from running in the upcoming November 23 elections. Popular Caracas mayoral contender Leopoldo Lopez, one of the barred candidates, called the blacklist an "abuse of power". "The government is scared of the people" said Lopez who is seen as a serious threat to Chavez power and organization. However in an interview published by Venezuela's state news agency, Jesse Chacon, the government's candidate for a Caracas mayoral post, denied that the blacklist is an attempt to sideline the president's rivals. "President Hugo Chavez did not create the disqualifications against the opposition" Chacon said, noting that the law in question has been in effect since 1975. Opposition leader Ledezma said the document also exposes the situation of political prisoners and personnel fired from the government's oil company PDVSA for having signed back in 2004 in support of a presidential recall vote. The document was sponsored by all of Venezuela's main opposition parties. In related news it was revealed that Venezuela's monthly inflation slowed in July for a second month as government efforts to drain cash from the economy curbed demand and controlled price gains. Consumer prices climbed 1.6% in July from a month earlier, according to the central bank's benchmark index of prices in Caracas. The Venezuela government is working hard to contain the region's highest inflation rate by reducing liquidity. Economists say the government will probably ramp up spending in the second half of the year, putting pressure on prices, to gain favor for President Hugo Chavez's socialist party before state and city elections slated for November. Consumer prices nationwide rose 1.9% in July, compared with a 2.4% increase a month earlier, according to a new index created this year, the central bank said. Annual inflation for the Caracas index was 33.7%, a five-year high, according to the central bank.