Argument over the 26 decrees issued at the end of the Enabling Law period is unsubstantiated brouhaha

Caracas Daily Journal: President Hugo Chávez on Sunday said the 26 last decrees he issued within the framework of a controversial Enabling Law, given to him by the National Assembly 18 months ago and ended on Thursday, were all discussed and approved, and called on opponents to turn to the Supreme Justice Tribunal.

During the commemoration of the Day of the National Flag, Chávez said that "those who disagree can turn to the Supreme Justice Tribunal. There is a state of law in Venezuela," national media quoted the president as saying.

The president said that the national executive had used the special powers during a year and a half to elaborate a series of bills that were later approved. "The last (bills) issued, which we had been discussing, came out on July 31."

In references to some aspects approached in the decrees, the president spoke about the National Armed Forces (FAN, under its Spanish acronym), which "now, under the law is Bolivarian".

The new law ruling the FAN is very important because every law must obey the nature of things … It (means) a change in conception, not only a change in name. Even the structure of the Armed Force is starting to be changed." The president also said that national media outlets and opposition-aligned personalities had created too much, baseless, brouhaha over the 26 decrees issued on Thursday, July 31, which was made public on Friday in the Official Gazette edition.

"They go with all that brouhaha – that they are secret laws … Those laws were all debated and discussed," the president was quoted as saying. The 26 decrees, the president was reported to have said, were all created in the country's benefit.

There were two announcements the president made during his Sunday speech. On one side, considering that the current Presidential Office's Minister Jesse Chacón is running for the Sucre Mayoralty in the regional elections, pro-government student leader Héctor Rodríguez, who is also part of the PSUV's board, is now the Presidential Office's Minister. Rodríguez emerged as a student leader during the political confusion involving student protests last year triggered by the conflict over the cancellation of broadcast license of the private TV station RCTV.

The president also said that 24 Russian Sukhoi planes had been received in Venezuela as part of a military equipment acquisition Venezuela recently bought from Russia. The business includes AK 47 rifles and artillery tanks. The president also presented excuses for not attending the Anti-Drug summit recently held in Colombia. He said despite the fact that he had planned to go, the government had received "worrying information" regarding his security at the summit setting.