Corruption rampant in Venezuela

Bloomberg:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has lately been accused of hypocrisy for seekingenhanced powers to rule by decree so that he can tackle the corruption that rots Venezuela's political institutions.

The accusation is fitting. Maduro is finally admitting that the Venezuela he inherited from the late Hugo Chavez is wracked by corruption, just five months after he famously claimed, “There is no corruption, for the first time in the history of Venezuela, in 180 years.” Plus, after 14 years in power, Maduro's own Chavistas -- as Chavez's political allies are known -- have a well-documented struggle with graft.

An Aug. 20 editorial in Tal Cual, an opposition-leaning newspaper, discussed the outrage: “How can Maduro demand an enabling law? The pretext that he needs it to fight corruption is immoral. The country doesn’t need more laws to fight corruption because it already has them. What the country demands is that these are enforced.”

Perhaps the most worrying part of Maduro’s search for “special powers” is what it says about his country's broken democracy. This presidential endeavor is not a new one. On four different occasions during his tenure, Chavez received an enabling law from a Chavista-controlled legislature, which he used to pass more than 200 laws without parliamentary approval.

The continuation of this trend shows that the Chavista movement -- both its politicians and the large segment of the population that supports them -- has grown accustomed to allowing the president unchecked power to bypass Congress and pass laws he wants enacted quickly. In a country where billions of dollars in oil revenue are controlled by the presidency, having a majority in Congress and exercising control over the supreme court, the attorney general’s office, the comptroller general and the courts is somehow not enough for the party in power. It wants to rule with no checks and balances -- which, of course, will probably only breed more corruption.

The irony is not lost on some Venezuelans. Alberto Barrera Tyszka, a columnist for El Nacional newspaper, one of the remaining outlets critical of the government, discussed the controversy in an Aug. 18 column: “A government cannot declare itself in a state of emergency against the government. It’s too ridiculous, scandalously incoherent.…It makes no sense. The absurd has become an ideology.”

When Patricia Janiot, a senior anchor for CNN en Espanol, tweeted on Aug. 13: “#Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro would seek special powers to fight against corruption. What do you think of the proposal?” The response from Maria Monsalve of Caracas captured a common idea among Venezuelans: “He will have to begin with his own cabinet!”
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There is much more.

Chavez led a corrupt regime and he used his power to enhance it.  Maduro is at best incompetent in dealing with existing corruption and special powers will not cure the problem.  In this country, Obama is pursuing the same corrupt policies of ignoring the law and making proclamations to push an agenda that does not have enough political support to pass Congress.  He is pushing the US toward a latin American mess where the government is used to punishment enemies and reward friends rather than faithfully administering the laws.