VENEZUELA:President Hugo Chávez has outlined his long-awaited plan to revise the Venezuelan constitution, including a proposal to eliminate presidential term limits that critics fear would allow the fiery leader to further concentrate power in his hands, writes Chris Kraulin Caracas.
He also proposed eliminating central bank autonomy, strengthening state expropriation powers and giving himself control over international reserves.
In an address to the National Assembly, Mr Chávez laid out 33 changes that he says would incorporate socialist ideology in the constitution he pushed through in 2000, and redistribute power and resources to the poor and disadvantaged.
He said the maximum working day would be reduced to six hours from eight hours, and proposed providing social security benefits to casual workers like taxi drivers and street vendors.
Mr Chávez proposed adding one year to the current six-year presidential term and eliminating the two-term limit, allowing him or any future president to run for re-election indefinitely. He rejected criticism that he was becoming increasingly autocratic.
"It's not that I want to enthrone myself," Mr Chávez said. "This shouldn't surprise anyone. It's done this way in any number of countries." He said his overwhelming electoral victory in December authorised him to lead the country to socialism, and that a law passed by congress in January giving him power to rule by decree also gave him the authority to direct a reform of the constitution. The constitutional revisions must be approved by the assembly before being put to voters in a referendum at the end of the year.
Especially since a short-lived coup in 2002 which Mr Chávez accuses the US of orchestrating, the Venezuelan leader has been a strident critic of Washington. He regularly belittles president George Bush and uses the promise of free or cut-price oil and refining facilities to counter US influence in Latin America. And he has made friends with countries such as Iran. Mr Chávez proposed a new "geometry of power" by grouping several states together to create an unspecified number of federal districts with economic and political autonomy. He said creation of these districts would enable him to concentrate resources and frustrate local officials "who pretend to be little presidents".
The president also wants to confer legal status on some 25,000 "communal councils" that he has formed in conjunction with worker co-operatives to own and operate thousands of state-owned assets, including steel plants, toll roads, foreclosed hotels and confiscated farms. The councils and co-operatives are the nuclei of the socialist society that Mr Chávez envisions.
Mr Chávez said that, although tempted, he was not prepared to abolish private property.
He said other socialist leaders told him that would be a mistake. But he said private property owners risked confiscation if their operations "damaged" communities.