Venezuela ‘truth commission’ ready to hound regime opponents

Bloomberg

A Venezuelan assembly rewriting the nation’s constitution is intensifying a campaign of persecu-
tion that already has sent opposition politicians into hiding, exile and prison.
President Nicolas Maduro said the constituent assembly, which on Tuesday declared itself the nation’s supreme political authority, will strip legal immunity from the national assembly that has opposed him. Members of the so-called constituyente plan to establish a truth commission that will function more as a tribunal than a venue that offers amnesty in return for healing testimony.
“The truth commission can try anyone,” Maduro, 54, said this week. The government, isolated and under threat of US economic sanctions, has quickly deployed the constituent assembly against the last strongholds of dissent in public institutions and to weaken the opposition-led congress. The Justice and Truth Commission may become its main tool. In countries such as South Africa and Rwanda, such panels have allowed perpetrators of violence to confess their crimes in return for amnesty. The idea was to establish a baseline of truth and extinguish deadly political passions. In Venezuela, forgiveness so far is not on offer.
“It’s the truth of only one sector,” said Carlos Berrizbeitia, an opposition lawmaker. “Surely they will use this to continue to persecute and threaten.”

SHARPENED TOOL
The newly empowered commission has existed in other forms for several years. After the failure of talks with the opposition last year, the government established a
commission in the executive branch to investigate violence in the wake of a 2002 coup attempt. In May, Maduro widened its
powers to probe political attacks in 2017, most of them aimed at
his regime. Now, the commission will operate under the aegis of
the new constituyente with its
untrammeled powers.
Diosdado Cabello, a political strongman, member of the constituyente and supporter of Maduro, said this week that the truth commission would be an instrument to advance the regime’s goals. “We’re asking of the Justice and Truth Commission that anyone who has acted against the fatherland be stripped of public duties,” he said.
Tulio Alvarez, a constitutional law professor and chairman of the Central University of Venezuela’s law school, said the body is a truth commission only in name. “The truth is the definition of events such as they occurred — not manipulating them,” he said. “This commission is designed for the opposite goal. It’s to say, hiding the truth.” “It sets on fire any possibility of an encounter between Venezuelans”
Cabello said the body planned to examine the immunity granted to lawmakers. “There are many things to review in the National Constituent Assembly, the coexistence of powers, impunity,” he said. “We must investigate those who have been calling for violence and now want to run for governors as if it’s no big deal.”
The consituyente on Tuesday passed a decree saying that the national assembly and supreme court couldn’t contradict its decisions. “We are not running over anyone,” Aristobulo Isturiz, vice president of the constituyente, said in a radio interview. “We are looking for rules of coexistence.”