Venezuela's President Maduro moves nearer to decree powers

[Col. Buggernuts]

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24951590[/url]

[QUOTE]Venezuela's National Assembly has paved the way to granting special powers for President Nicolas Maduro.
Under the measures the leader would be able to govern by decree for 12 months.
The bill still needs to be revised by a special commission and debated for a second time, but correspondents do not expect significant changes to be made.
Mr Maduro says he will use it to tackle corruption and the economic crisis. However, critics fear he may use it to silence the opposition.
The approval of the first reading of the bill comes after a member of parliament, Maria Aranguren, who defected to the opposition was stripped of her parliamentary immunity on Tuesday, being replaced by a government loyalist.
This provided the one remaining vote that the government was missing to achieve the 99 votes needed for the approval of the "Ley Habilitante", or Enabling Act.[/QUOTE]

Enabling acts never end well imo.