The national coordinator of Primero Justicia, Julio Borges, challenged President Chavez yesterday during his annual address to the National Assembly to explain more than $8 billion in expenditures. He said that this year, "when democratic forces come to the National Assembly," they will propose a bill to prevent the head of state from handing money out to Venezuelans as he pleases," according to a press release. "Today, on behalf of the people of Venezuela, I demand that President Chavez explain to the country in his annual address to the National Assembly on what basis he decided to give away, just in 2009, $8.352 billion," said Borges, as he explained that these resources translate into nearly 50 expenditures to some 20 countries worldwide. In this sense, Borges added that "it is a crime against the Venezuelan people for the president to decide to continue giving away our money to other countries while we get stuck with more taxes, higher debt and higher cost of living."
The National Association of Journalists (CNP) said in a statement on Saturday that the national government's closure of 32 radio stations and 2 television stations last August by was one of the greatest outrages against freedom of expression. "Actions of this nature make the national government one of the worst and most abusive authoritarian violators of human rights in the region, and we once more call on the national and international communities to denounce such action that Reporters Without Borders calls 'a delicate situation,'" said the notice. The CNP renewed its call to the executive branch to reconsider its actions and show that democracy is alive in the country.
According to a report by La Voz reporter Jean Carlos Rodriguez, convicts from Yare prison on Sunday kidnapped relatives who were accustomed to visiting the prison on the weekend. The motives were to demand removal of the prison director and seek the cessation of mistreatment of prisoners and their families, as well as procedural delays. Prisoners reported that relatives are being held hostage in the administrative area of the prison, while demanding the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Interior and Justice, the Ombudsman, the Attorney General and special courts that take their causes.
A group of officers from detachment 51 of the National Guard guarded the room entrance of agricultural executive Franklin Brito - on hunger strike for months - in the military hospital in case the Metropolitan Police moved him against his will from OAS headquarters to the health center. Elena Rodriguez, Brito's wife, assumed her protest and has been fasting for three weeks. On the night of Dec. 31, Rodriguez tried unsuccessfully to get the doctors to leave her husband to return to his strike. "There is no court order to keep him detained. It is a kidnapping." She said that the family will radicalise the protest: Angela Brito, his 20-year old daughter, will join the hunger strike in the coming days. The girl is studying engineering and will suspend the rest of her semester to join her parents' protest. "This would be another outrage to my family, but it is a struggle for everyone and we will continue until President Chávez recognizes that the INTI erred in granting agricultural mandates," she said. She added that she is demanding that President Chavez explain his actions, including the fact that he sent officials to resolve the issue, only to perpetuate corrupt practices.
Angel Rodriguez, Popular Minister for Electricity, reported Sunday that inspectors from the various companies that make up the National Electricity Corporation (Corpoelec) will ensure compliance to the established schedules for energy savings in shopping malls, bingo halls and casinos. "We will create a process such that schedules are followed in private and public sectors," he said. He clarified that this measure to reduce consumption is also being implemented in the infrastructure of public administration. "That 20 percent decrease in consumption is the same as the one which the public sector is following."
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