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Weekly Report - 27 January 2011 (WR-11-04)

VENEZUELA: Full speed ahead

President Hugo Chávez was as good as his word. He told the new-look national assembly in his state-of-the-nation address on 15 January that he would “work harder and faster" to address problems directly associated with serious floods at the tail end of last year - and that is exactly what he has done. Over the course of the last week, Chávez has pushed through three laws under special powers granted to him by the legislature in late December, to tackle the housing deficit head on and provide debt relief to small producers whose livelihoods were affected by the flooding. Chávez withdrew his offer to give up these powers in May, however, and said he would hold on to them for all 18 months. He said the opposition had spurned his “gesture": it wanted all or nothing and would get nothing.

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