Venezuela bars opposition leader from holding office

[Bacchus4.0]

Source: AP

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — One of Venezuela's most prominent opposition leaders announced Tuesday that she had been barred from holding public office as a critical election looms.

Former lawmaker Maria Corina Machado posted a notice on Twitter saying the comptroller's office prohibited her from holding office for a year, which could prevent her from taking her seat if she wins one in December's congressional elections.

She did not say why she was barred, but she apparently has the option to appeal the decision.

The comptroller's office could not be reached for comment.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-bars-opposition-leader-holding-office-004309812.html

[hack89]

1. And so Maduro's preparations for the election begin. nt

[Archae]

2. She's with the CIA! Or something...

"Maduro can do no wrong" people incoming in 3-2-1...

[Bacchus4.0]

3. The nuclear agreement isn't going to help Maduro either. Oil prices will fall as Iran begins export

Exchange rate is up to 630 bolivars to a USD. Official rate is 6.3. they are so screwed.

[7962]

10. It didnt even take 30 mins. nt

[Judi Lynn]

4. We all know she's the US Gov't supported opposition advocate who has been operating on US funds

for years, working originally against Hugo Chavez, all the way back before the failed coup on Hugo Chavez.

She's not an authentic leader of the people, but instead a puppet of the oligarchy, as we ALL know.

She leads other US-funded right-winger activists.

[center][/center]

[hack89]

5. If we "all know" this, why not prove it in court?

with actual evidence and all the proceedings one normally expects with due process? Why a backdoor, secret bureaucratic move? Looks like Maduro is running scared and doesn't feel strong enough to confront the opposition head on.

[Judi Lynn]

7. You might enjoy pondering something beyond right-wing corporate spin.

Many U.S. Americans have learned through maturity to see through the political programming. It's not that hard for healthy minds.

[hack89]

11. Would you support such an action in America?

Should the US government have the power to ban citizens from holding elected office?

[Adrahil]

17. Yes, only people who agree with you have healthy minds.

Maduro is a political coward, and so are his supporters. If she is not an "authentic" leader of the people, then she'll lose the election, right? If she IS elected, then your stqtement is revealed as bullshit.

But it's easy to maiontain power if you just make it illegal for your political opponents to run for office.

Disgusting.

And i'm not even saying I support her position. But this tactic is beyond reprehensible. And to support it, equally so.

[Tarheel_Dem]

25. There's only one reason for the unhinged ravings of the Venezuelan maniac. This paranoia is.....

not only dangerous for Venezuelans, but for the entire region. If the elections are fair, he & his party won't be re-elected.

Tuesday, July 7th 2015 - 07:40 UTC


"Maduro has increasingly lashed out at countries he paints as hostile while he struggles with multiple crises at home, including the world's highest inflation, a soaring homicide rate and approval ratings languishing in the 20% range."


http://en.mercopress.com/2015/07/07/maduro-recalls-ambassador-in-guyana-venezuela-in-under-new-forms-of-assault-and-aggression

He and his supporters never own their failures. It's always the fault of someone else. Everybody's out to get 'em, especially the U.S.

[7962]

8. Well, because "we all know it"! Why the need for silly proof?

Los Revolution fracaso!!

[Exultant Democracy]

23. Backdoor secret bureaucratic moves don't get an option for appeal.

[Bacchus4.0]

6. Well, I am sure the chavista candidate would easily beat her in an election then nt

[Judi Lynn]

9. Who knows? The oligarchs with extra funding may have learned how to control the vote counting. n/t

[Bacchus4.0]

13. The election board is controlled by chavistas. Thats the problem nt

[Marksman_91]

29. Do you ever get tired of coming up with lies?

The CNE is controlled by the PSUV, as well as the legislative and judiciary branches of the government (even though they won't admit to it). If anyone's gonna be counting votes, it's gonna be the Maduro administration. Nice try in trying to spin this, though.

[fasttense]

12. Thanks for posting the picture

It clearly shows how in the pockets of the US she is. There are more out there with her fawning over the bushes. She said she thought the bushes were the best president ever in the whole wide world.

She is such a tool.

"Maria Corina Machado, possibly the most right-wing conservative voice within the Venezuelan opposition, is the anti-Chavez minority’s only female candidate. Lacking a political party, per se, Machado maintains close ties to the United States and has depended for years on her Washington-based financiers and advisors.

Campaigning on a platform of what she calls, ‘Popular Capitalism’, – the same term used by Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – Machado is widely expected to lose the opposition’s pre-presidential primaries since even those who oppose Chavez’s socialism understand the lack of popular support for speeches promising “more capitalism”."

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6709

[Bacchus4.0]

14. She got the most votes of any candidate in the 2010 election

Machado won election to the National Assembly in the 26 September 2010 polls, as the highest vote-getter in the nation;[21] she and fellow Primero Justicia Miranda candidate Enrique Mendoza were the "two highest vote-getters nationwide".[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Corina_Machado

Face it, she would easily win.

[Judi Lynn]

16. She is a complete right-wing coup-supporting tool. You got it!

On edit, found that tricky phrase you mentioned!

Opposition Lawmaker Maria Corina Machado Makes Miami Headlines
By Correo del Orinoco International , August 17th 2012


In another attempt to discredit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of the country’s most reactionary right-wing lawmakers recently issued a set of “warnings” that her country is allegedly developing a massive “guerrilla army” to fight against the United States.

Published in Miami’s El Nuevo Herald, Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado claimed a so-called “Plan Sucre” intends to train several million “militiamen” by 2019. While she failed to provide any evidence, Machado did succeed in catching international media attention just weeks before presidential elections that will most likely secure President Chavez another six years in office (2013-2019).

Known largely for her defense of Thatcher-esque “popular capitalism”, a failed attempt to revoke President Chavez’s mandate in 2004, and her open support of the short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez, Maria Corina Machado told El Nuevo Herald of a “secretive plan” she warned will be implemented if Chavez wins this year’s presidential election. First published by the Miami-based paper on Friday, the story was also picked up by Agence France Presse (APF), England’s The Telegraph, Radio Netherlands, and France 24, amongst other press services.

According to the anti-Chavez lawmaker, who claimed an “unnamed” military official provided her a hard copy of the “secret plan”, an electoral victory for President Chavez this coming October 7 will result in the implementation of what she called “Plan Sucre”, or in her words, the “transformation” of Venezuela’s “professional army into a guerrilla army”.

More:
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7179

LOL.

[Bacchus4.0]

15. How did she get the most votes of any person running in 2010 if she isn't a legitimate candidate?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Corina_Machado

Face it, she would win and chavismo is a disaster. The truth hurts doesn't it?

[Igel]

19. Look, it's simple.

If she runs, she's a capitalist tool. She fails to have the correct politics.

If she runs and wins, then those counting the votes were corrupt. A simple purge and recount would handle that, provided the recount was done by those with the correct politics.

If she actually did win, then the populace needs protection from media manipulation. They need to be sheltered so that the true expression of popular will wins out. And we'll recognize that popular will because it's in keeping with the correct politics.

If it actually turns out it wasn't media manipulation, then the poor dears suffer from false consciousness. They must be re-educated in the correct politics in order to express their true popular will. That is the purpose of true leaders--to show the masses what "correct politics" looks like because, well, leaders are always superior and are the heart-spring of True Democracy (tm).

Of course, "leaders" require followers, and aren't representatives, and when they impose the "correct politics" on the "popular will" you get democracy (tm), as in the German Democratic Republic, or the USSR's talk about "deepening democracy" and "supporting democratic forces." Because as soon as you have the idea of "correct politics" you've already said that the One True "demos" in a "true democracy" are the leaders and those who agree with them. At least the PRC is honest and doesn't make pretenses at democracy, rather than play stupid language games.

[Bacchus4.0]

20. Although they can't use any of those excuses if the government bars her from holding office

Anyway, its hard to believe there are people who still support this administration but there are although I think its more a bitterness at the failure of chavismo to take hold and spread throughout the region and world.

[NuclearDem]

22. That's pretty much it.

Somebody has to show the unenlightened masses the true way.

[NuclearDem]

18. Stupid fucking foreigners.

If a vote in another country doesn't go the way some Western leftists want it to go, then the voters were obviously duped, bought, or cajoled in some way.

Your democracy is only legitimate if you vote for who we think is best for you. Remember that, Ukraine and Venezuela!

[LanternWaste]

26. And Florida.

"Remember that, Ukraine and Venezuela!"

And Florida.

[NuclearDem]

27. Plenty of evidence for actual election fraud in Florida.

All the "fraud" necessary to convince some people, however, is a result they don't like.

When Ukrainian national elections are considered fraudulent while the sham Crimea referendum is treated as legitimate, it becomes patently obvious where some stand when it comes to democracy.

[Reter]

28. Wow

[Marksman_91]

31. If you're so confident about her being dirty, then surely the Venezuelan people will not vote her in

So why not let her run? Oh, right, she had the highest percentage of votes in the ENTIRE nation in the last parliamentary elections. Obviously Maduro and his ilk see her as a threat.

Also, now you're supporting silencing opposition figureheads based on trumped-up charges by a regime that controls almost every aspect of a nation? Including most of the media? Just to let you know, most media in Venezuela is pretty much complacent with the government at this point. There's not a single opposition TV channel anymore. The only legitimate media that shows the reality of Venezuela is social media and some brave reporters who use the web to report on the real issues. Stop pretending that Maduro isn't an autocratic buffoon. It's truly sickening how every day you show more resentment against democracy.

[Sunlei]

21. To bad the USA can't do this for the baggiest republicans

[Amishman]

24. i don't think you want to go down that road

Once you start blocking candidates you no longer have democracy. Free and open elections are the cornerstone of the democratic process, once you start limiting who can run it is no longer a true open election.

This is also why we need to remove private campaign financing and force all candidates to run strictly on limited public funds. The cost of running a campaign in the US today is effectively a barrier on office eligibility.

Even is someone is a complete jackass, they should be able to run for the office. Otherwise you corrupt the system.

On a side note, it is disheartening how many people on DU seem to think the solution to most problems is banning something. I swear some days it seems like all I see is 'X pollutes! lets ban it' 'I'm offended by Y, lets ban that too!' 'Z is unhealthy! Ban Ban Ban!'. What happened to freedom? And if there is anything that prohibition, the war on drugs, and attempts to suppress the LGBT community has taught us is that banning an item or behavior does not effectively suppress it.

[Marksman_91]

30. OAS Secretary General defends Machado

"Only the people are those who can bar public servants" said Luis Almagro

http://runrun.es/nacional/213201/almagro-sobre-machado-las-unicas-inhabilitaciones-las-hace-el-pueblo.html

"No hay inhabilitación política. Cualquier inhabilitación o proscripción política no se puede implementar desde el punto de vista administrativo. Tiene que tener un contenido diferente”, indicó Almagro en una entrevista en CNN en español.

“La elección debe estar abierta a todos los ciudadanos en condiciones jurídicas y legales de participar. Las únicas proscripciones las puede hacer el pueblo cuando te vota o no te vota. Las únicas inhabilitaciones las hace la gente. Todo lo demás es forzar la situación política”, concluyó.

Translation:
"There is no political barring. Any political disqualification or prohibition can not be implemented from an administrative point of view. It has to have different content," said Almagro in an interview on CNN in Spanish.

"The election should be open to all citizens in legal conditions to participate. The only bans the people can do is when they vote or do not vote for this public servant. Only the people are those who can bar politically. Everything else is forcing the political situation," he concluded.

It's funny how Maduro didn't think about doing this earlier on. But of course, since elections are coming up, NOW's when Machado gets barred (on trumped up charges, unsurprisingly) from public office.

[Godhumor]

32. And yet another reason why the current Venezuela is a failed state

Hopefully this nonsense will end soon enough.

[ripcord]

33. Disgusting

This sounds like something the right in this country would try.