Opposition: Venezuelan Parliament passed a "telltale law"

On Tuesday night, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) used its majority vote in the National Assembly to pass the first law enacted in 2012: a reform of the Organic Law against Organized Crime and Terrorism Financing.

The differences between deputies of the PSUV and the opposition umbrella group Unified Democratic Panel (MUD) prevented consensus on the issue.

Opposition lawmaker José Antonio España (Movement for Socialism, MAS, for the central state of Miranda) thinks that the law submitted by the PSUV violates at least 20 articles of the Constitution. "This law violates the right to free association and to protest. It also assumes that everybody is a suspect," he added. España stressed that "the Attorney General Office has no longer the monopoly of prosecuting, as the National Office against Organized Crime and Terrorism Financing will be created."

Meanwhile, Congressman Eduardo Gómez Sigala (opposition Social Christian party Copei, for the northwestern state of Lara) voiced concern about "the vagueness and imprecision" of the concepts included in the legal instrument. "The use of general comments is dangerous," he warned. Gómez Sigala said that Chavezism drafted the law under the premise of "legislating against enemies."

The Venezuelan deputy and businessman said that the National Assembly passed a "second version of the telltale law," because it will be mandatory for people to report any financial movement they view as "suspicious," even if related to "a legal source." Such groundless denunciations will bear no criminal punishment. If the suspicion turns out to be unfounded, informants should pay between 500 and 1,000 tax units.

The new law "also ignores the proportionality of punishment and crime. Anybody can be described as a terrorist. Further, the law does not fully match international regulations," the opposition legislator said.

The government's version

Meanwhile, Deputy Elvis Amoroso (PSUV, central state of Aragua), who was the proponent of the law, said that the reform complies with the Constitution and with international agreements.

"Organized crime commits abominable crimes which must be strongly prosecuted. This is the reason why penalties are stiffer," he argued.

Amoroso denied that the intention of the law is to crack down on dissenters. "This law was created to prosecute criminals," he concluded.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas