AMERICA/VENEZUELA - National Council for the Laity rejects the 26 most recent laws declared by the President and asks that all citizens participate responsibly in the November 23 elections

Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – The National Council for the Laity (CNL) in Venezuela expressed its rejection of the 26 laws that the President has recently approved, in a public statement presenting its position in regards to the upcoming November 23 elections. On that day, there will be regional elections in Venezuela, in which 22 governors and 328 city mayors, as well as members of legal councils will all be elected.
The CNL declares that in that same spirit that lead the Venezuelan Bishops to consider the Constitutional Reform offered to Venezuelans last year as “morally unacceptable,” “the National Council for the Laity, after analyzing the 26 most recent laws declared by the President, feels it their duty to address all Venezuelans in revealing its conclusions.”
According to their statement, “with these laws there is an intent to legalize what was already rejected on December 2, which shows a lack of respect for the decision made by the majority of the Venezuelan people, once more violating their dignity and fundamental human rights, declaring laws in an irregular, anti-democratic, and negative manner that denies the right of the citizens’ participation which is something recognized in our Constitution and forms ‘one of the pillars of all democratic societies and one of the best ways of guaranteeing its continuation.”
The CNL denounces the fact that the laws “imply a greater institutional ideologization; an exaggerated control of the citizen and his goods, of public administration, institutions, and the economy; and they tend toward greater centralism in government and concentration of power.” All of this “is opposed to the values and fundamental principles of the Gospel and the Church’s social doctrine [which are]: respect for the dignity of the human person, the truth, freedom, justice, the common good, solidarity, subsidarity, free and responsible participation in building democracy in a nation and in the establishment of a fraternal and peaceful coexistence, at the light of the Gospel precept of Love.”
They later express their hope for a government that “promotes social justice and favors the common good for all citizens, guaranteeing the right to life, housing, work, health services, and education for all people...one that watches out for the entire population in an non-bias manner; capable of resisting the onslaught of insecurity and social hatreds.”
Thus, the CNL rejects the laws passed by the President and encourages all people “to work for reconciliation and peaceful coexistence among all Venezuelans and participate with freedom and responsibility in all initiatives that promote the values of democracy and the service of the common good in society,” especially through exercising their right and duty to vote in the upcoming November 23 elections. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 22/9/2008)