Venezuela: Hugo Chavez Granted Special Powers for 18 Months

On December 17, Caracas Gringo ^[1] wrote that President Hugo Chavez “was granted special powers to rule by presidential decree until June 2012.” An Enabling Law ^[2] that Venezuelan Analysis ^[3] reports was passed “in order to bring rapid relief to 130,000 flood victims and to further engrain 21^st Century Socialism in the nation’s legal structure.” But according to Juan Cristobal in Caracas Chronicles ^[4], “Chávez had absolute power before, and he has absolute power now. There is little in these laws that changes that.”