The Law on Supervision, Regularization, Performance and Financing of Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, a feared initiative that could undermine the performance of civil associations in Venezuela, and which has been criticized in joint statements by up to 400 national and international organizations, has entered a second discussion in the Venezuelan Parliament, controlled by Chavismo since 2020 in an election where the Venezuelan opposition did not participate.
Just entering the year, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, placed the order of priorities of the moment and asked the deputies to begin the process of public consultations to enrich the bill, which was presented by Diosdado Cabello in 2023, and that was already approved in the first discussion.
The law could come into force this year, which is an electoral year in Venezuela. “It is the duty of the National Assembly to consult with all the people of Venezuela and the organizations that are involved in the scope of that law, in order to have a fruitful second discussion,” Rodríguez stated in the debate session.
Since the time of Hugo Chávez, in 2005, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has been publicly debating any legal instrument that would limit or deny content to Venezuelan NGOs, particularly those that question the performance of the Government. .
The NGO Supervision Law being discussed in the National Assembly, consulted experts warn, goes much further in terms of controls and regulations than the previous International Cooperation initiatives promoted by Chavista deputy Eva Golinger more than a decade ago.
With extensive volunteerism, the universe of civil associations and NGOs still has force in the social fabric of the country, and they have exercised effective control over the violations and excesses of Chavismo in matters such as human rights, administrative transparency, corruption, environmental management, freedom of expression or information on social violence.
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The harsh struggle with the opposing democratic factors, and the absence of political conditions, have been postponing this permanent rictus of Chavismo to dominate the habitat of civil society to consolidate its hegemony. According to official propaganda, NGOs are instruments of imperialism, which use the advantages of the Constitution to conspire against the Bolivarian revolution.
This week, parliamentarians began consultations on this bill by listening to the observations of the activists involved. In the world of civil activism there is a lot of concern. In the sessions, reference was made to some of the organizations that most strongly criticize official procedures – Súmate, Provea, Futuro Presente, Lidera -, presented as “linked to the opposition parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular.”
For Feliciano Reyna, director of Alianza Solidaria, the bill being discussed in the legislature is so radical that it would make the existence of NGOs impossible. This circumstance, he says, would aggravate humanitarian assistance and assistance support networks. “The existing project raises unviable issues, it is not possible to make partial improvements. It seriously violates freedom of association. You are granted an existence in fact, not in law. New procedures of complex compliance are being proposed to already over-regulated organizations. They want to regionalize the work, with the aim of preventing it from being done from the capital. A court ruling could order the dissolution of an organization.”
In general terms, the Chavista hegemony has been trying for years, slowly but progressively, to reprogram the system of legal relations between society and the State, and colonize civil spaces of civil activism with actors loyal to its cause and interests.
Empowered by the Constitution, the National Electoral Council (CNE) – theoretically an independent body created to promote leading democracy, in fact, a public power controlled by the interests of Chavismo – is authorized to assist and guide the holding of elections in workers' leagues. , unions or professional circles. By abusing this clause, appointments are advanced or delayed to absurd extremes.
“The Central University of Venezuela spent almost 20 years without organizing rector elections. Law associations have gone several decades without organizing internal consultations, I would say the majority of professional circles in the country. The decision of the Constitutional Chamber in 2002 to appoint the rectors of the CNE at the convenience of Chavismo is the most serious precedent in this history. Subsequently, almost all political parties have been intervened by the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to appoint alternative directors,” observes jurist Gustavo Linares Benzo, from the Andrés Bello Catholic University.
Linares Benzo points out that the architecture of the current Constitution makes it possible for the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ to overlap the functions of the National Electoral Council, intervening in civil directives without consultation, with interpretative rulings oriented to the interests of the Chavista state, as happened in the Bar Association. of the Carabobo State, the Red Cross, Fedecámaras Valencia, the Motorcycle Federation, the Venezuelan Surf Federation, Fedenaga, and more recently, with the Communist Party of Venezuela
The courts controlled by Chavismo have intervened, from 2014 onwards, in the internal legality of political parties, especially opposition or uncomfortable ones, cloning their directives and ignoring their legitimate bodies. It has happened in the opposition Democratic Action, Popular Will, Primero Justicia, Copei, Vente Venezuela. And among the allies of the government, in Patria Para Todos, once its board announced its distancing from Chavismo, and more recently the Communist Party of Venezuela, for similar reasons.
“The violation of union autonomy with the challenge of consultations is a process tha
t has been in development for a long time,” comments Carlos Correa, from Espacio Público. “This law effectively eliminates the existence of Non-Governmental Organizations, the bureaucracy of the Venezuelan state unloads all its weight on them.” Correa is not so sure how determined Chavismo is to go all the way with a legal instrument with which Venezuela would take an effective step on the path to the Nicaraguan dictatorship, at a time when political negotiations are necessary.
“The internal composition of Chavismo tendencies is different from the reality of Nicaragua,” says Correa. “It is an initiative that creates pressure, it is an instrument to negotiate. But whatever it does, Chavismo is not going to give up having a monopoly on good.”
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