The Anti-Blockade Law presented by President Nicolás Maduro aims to reestablish the country’s economic system affected by the looting of assets overseas and the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the U.S. Government.
Its goal is to strengthen “the power of the State in the face of restrictive measures, to overcome the obstacles that affect the Venezuelan assets, economic looting or economic restraints,” told Member of the Constituent Assembly Hermann Escarrá to the Venezuelan News Agency.
In this regard, the Anti-Blockade Law is based on the power and procedures of the Executive Branch regarding macroeconomic, trade and investment balance.
Part of the goals is to recover public infrastructure and the country’s productive capacity by taking decisions to undo some legal norms in very specific cases, with a preventive control by the Council of State.
“In the face of impossibilities resulting from a norm or procedure, it gives power to undo and move forward with the policies and procedures proposed by this draft law,” explained Escarrá.
The norm seeks the stability of the productive and financial system, large-scale foreign investment and the selective substitutions of imports, in addition to the 16 productive working groups or “motors” dedicated to the different areas of Venezuela’s economy.
“Its compensation is the recovery of the standard of living of the weakest and most vulnerable, that is, the people,” he stressed.
Escarrá highlighted that the attacks against the country’s economy are part of an strategy planned in the United States with the help of a “parallel government outside the constitutional framework,” in a clear reference to self-proclaimed Juan Guaidó.
Wage Protection
“The constituent law will help achieve a harmonic development, create jobs, strengthen a high aggregated value, improve the population’s standard of living and strengthen the country’s sovereignty,” said Escarrá.
It proposes “to develop wage compensatory systems for workers, finance the social protection system, protect human rights, achieve a greater capacity of high-quality pubic services and boost the domestic productive capacity.”
On September 29, the Venezuelan president presented the Anti-Blockade Law to the National Constituent Assembly as a response to the escalation of the economic, financial, trade blockade and military threats of the United States.
Furthermore, it is a legal action to counter the unilateral coercive measures by other states, groups of states, and international public and private bodies as a method of pressure to promote a regime change.
“In the economic field, we could say that in the domestic and international sphere, Venezuela’s trade and financial relations, as well as foreign investors, have been directly or indirectly affected by unilateral coercive measures,” he said.
Escarrá recalled that Guaidó and his political group has promoted destabilization to steal the country’s assets overseas.
In the face of this aggression, the Venezuelan Government fosters a draft law to articulate the actions of the country’s powers and their duty to defend sovereignty, social welfare and the right to development.
Escarrá stressed this legal instrument has not been improvised as it has been planned and assessed to protect the interests of the Republic, and the new National Assembly, to be elected on December 6, will carry on with this task.
The ANC member explained that unilateral coercive measures represent crimes against humanity, and that “this law is undoubtedly aimed to protect and favor the people’s human rights.”
Economic Sovereignty
The Anti-Blockade Law also proposes the recovery of savings and different legal mechanisms to protect domestic assets, revoke or prevent actions aimed at freezing or gaining control over assets, liabilities or property losses of the Republic.
Escarrá pointed out that the law will preserve the scope of Article 303 of the Constitution, which states that “the State shall retain all shares of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.”
“One thing is negotiations and operations. Contracts surely have a strategic nature, but PDVSA’s ownership and the nation’s economic sovereignty are not at stake in this law, nor is it in any other law,” he stressed.
Confidentiality of Information
Regarding confidentiality of information, Escarrá said that, in observance of Article 325 of the Constitution, this mechanism is aimed at “tactical economic movements and other planning-related issues.”
This will “stop opponents to the Venezuelan Government, based on Article 325 of the Constitution, and it will not affect the principle of freedom of information, expression or thought,” he highlighted.
The Venezuelan president will have 30 days to take actions to face those measures of which the country has been victim, Escarrá added.
With the economic, financial blockade imposed by the Donald Trump administration in an attempt to topple President Maduro and harm the people, Venezuela has lost more than $30 billion.
Also, the blockade has frozen assets and accounts overseas that can be used to meet the needs of the Venezuelan people.
Furthermore, PDVSA’s U.S. and Colombia-based subsidiaries, Citgo and Monomeros, respectively, have been seized with the help of the Venezuelan rightwing.
The Bank of England has also confiscated 31 tons of gold from the Central Bank of Venezuela.