Growing Tension in Venezuela

Here's the situation in a nutshell: Even though voters had last December rejected a referendum extending Hugo Chavez's time in office and his desire to enact socialist reforms in Venezuela, this week he decreed 26 new laws designed to push the country more toward that direction. Key components of the decrees include expanding state control over industry and establishing citizen militias that, states the AP, "critics fear will evolve into Cuban-style community groups used to monitor and prevent 'counterrevolutionary' activities."

Now the country's high court has conveniently barred opposition leaders from taking part in Nov. 23 elections. Those opposition leaders have in turn appealed to the human-rights commission of the regional trade bloc, Mercosur, reports Bloomberg:

"The opposition, reeling from the release of 26 decrees on the legal system, the economy and the military, is also rallying against a ban on 272 people from seeking public office, including at least five opposition members who planned to run in November. The decrees bolster Chavez's power by ending lawmakers' oversight of government borrowing, allowing him to appoint regional officials and opening much of the economy to government intervention.

The opposition, which includes student and business groups, conservative free-marketeers, and leftists disenchanted with the growth of centralized control, had several meetings planned with (Mercosur's Adriana) Pena today and will march in support of the excluded candidates. The court decision set back opponents' hopes of unseating some pro-Chavez governors and mayors in the coming elections."

El Universal has comprehensive coverage on the events unfolding with Mercosur.

As if political turmoil wasn't enough, The New York Times is reporting on a mysterious rabies outbreak in Venezuela.