Venezuela: President proposes bill to criminalize opposition

According to Business Insider reporting on 16 August 2017, President Maduro is proposing a new law that would threaten anyone who "goes out into the street to express intolerance, hatred, and violence" with imprisonment of up to 25 years. As reported earlier by Catholic Culture on 10 August 2017, Bishop Jose Luis Azuaje Ayala, vice-president of the Venezuelan Catholic Bishops" Conference, has stated that repression has increased and the government has lost all legitimacy. Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "This proposed bill would mean the criminalization of all opposition and a clear move towards absolute dictatorship and a totalitarian state. Freedom of expression is finished. The situation was hard enough for Christians before, but this bill will endanger Christian communities even more since their advocacy for citizens" freedom could now constitute "˜hate speech"." Rossana Ramirez adds: "This is just one of the many injustices committed by the new Constituent Assembly. Those in public office opposing Maduro"s measures are being dismissed and replaced by supporters of the regime one by one. The recent‚ dissolution‚ of the Parliament (as reported by International Crisis Group on 22 August 2017) which had an opposition majority is another example of the regime"s increasingly authoritarian measures."