Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-24-Speech-4-156"
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"en.20070524.24.4-156"2
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".
Mr President, it is true that President Chávez’s economic and social policies are posing a big challenge to powerful interests and there may well be, as Mr Catania maintains, a campaign to delegitimise his government. However, we are not here to discuss the rights and wrongs of his socio-economic policies or indeed the internal politics of Venezuela. This motion for a resolution is an expression of worry about a suppression of pluralism and dissent, and that is our business. It is a shame if the elevation of President Chávez to an icon of anti-globalisation and anti-capitalism blinds some in this House to the drift towards an authoritarian and anti-democratic system. I find myself in rather rare agreement with Mr Hannan.
This has happened to the Mayor of my city, London, Mr Livingstone, who belongs to the Labour Party. A year ago he said: ‘For many years people have demanded that social progress and democracy go hand in hand, and that is exactly what is now taking place in Venezuela. ... With Chávez the choice is not difficult at all. He is both carrying out a progressive programme and doing so through the mandate of the ballot box.’
It is true, as Mr Hannan has said, that there are still elections, but there is an undoubted drift towards autocracy and a suppression of opinions that do not fit with the regime. We had some amusement when six months ago Mr Livingstone went 5000 miles to try to see President Chávez but unfortunately got stranded in Cuba because the President could not find the time to see him. We had a laugh about that. However, it is quite serious when somebody who is democratically elected as the Mayor of, I would say, Europe’s premier city, finds himself wishing to cosy up to someone who is not only populist but increasingly authoritarian. It is because there are breaches of human rights in Venezuela that we have this motion for a resolution."@en1
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