The corruption of democracy in Venezuela: under Pres. Hugo Chavez's regime the last nine years, corruption has reached heights undreamed of by even the greediest of despots, as the people of Venezuela have been fleeced out of billions of dollars

In his inaugural speech, in January 1999, Chavez called for a "political revolution" before tackling social or economic issues. Taking advantage of the popular euphoria following his victory--and in violation of the existing constitution he convoked a Constituent Assembly possessing absolute power to write a new constitution and to "redefine the state." This Assembly, made up of his followers, went on to dissolve the democratically elected Congress and dismiss all the members of the Supreme Court, as well as the Attorney General, the General Comptroller, and most of the judges in the country, only to replace them with bureaucrats loyal to the president. In a letter to the Supreme Court, Chavez stated that "the president had exclusive authority on the management of state affairs," thus appearing to place himself above the law.

In November 1999, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Vicente Rangel, gave a speech in which he put forward the position of the government regarding corruption. He said that, from then on, public office would follow ethical norms, that corruption had already cost Venezuela too much in economic, social, and spiritual terms, and that the new judicial system and the new Civic Power, incorporated in the new constitution, would combine to combat corruption. That is not what has occurred, however.

In the nine years since Chavez came to power, an estimated $300,000,000,000 of oil income has entered the national treasury. The exact number is uncertain due to the poor transparency of the government accounts, and because the national petroleum company no longer presents financial results to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission or to the Venezuelan people. In parallel, during Chavez's tenure, national debt has increased from $22,000,000,000 to about $70,000,000,000. Together with income tax revenues, the total income of Venezuela during Chavez's presidency has been approximately $700,000,000,000. This formidable amount of money is nowhere to be seen in terms of public works or effective health and education programs.

Three parallel budgets existed--totaling more than $80,000,000,000--in 2007: the formal one, for some $55,000,000,000 (including additional amounts), approved without discussion by the submissive National Assembly; a second one, amounting to $10,000,000,000, derived from the international monetary reserves taken from the Venezuelan Central Bank, in violation of the laws of the country; and a third, in the amount of $15,000,000,000, built from the funds siphoned out of Petroleos de Venezuela, monies which were required for investment and maintenance of the petroleum industry. None of these budgets are discussed publicly or subject to accountabihty.

Irregularities abound in the management of public funds: more than $22,500,000,000 in dollar transfers have been made to foreign accounts, maintains the Venezuelan Central Bank, and at least half of that money remains unaccounted for. Jose Guerra, a former Central Bank executive, indicates that some of this money has been used by Chavez "to buy political loyalties in the region ... and some has been donated to Cuba and Bolivia, among other countries."