Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2015-11-10, 17:27:36 | version 1.33.00
REDACTED Page 87 of 190 According to the Constitution of Venezuela, the President has the attribution and duty to “direct the National Armed Forces in his capacity as Commander in Chief, exercise supreme hierarchical Authority over the same and establish their contingent”358 and to “exercise supreme command over the National Armed Forces, promote their officers at the rank of colonel or naval captain and above, and appoint them to the positions exclusively reserved to them.”359 The Organic Law of the Bolivarian National Armed Force,360 a decree issued by President Chávez, which has the rank, value and power of a law,361 reinforces the Presidential authority over the Armed Forces. Article 7 of the Organic Law provides that: “Military personnel in active service (…) are subordinated to the President of the Republic, Commander in Chief of the National Armed Forces, whose orders must obey and follow without delay or excuse of any kind.” Article 329 of the Constitution establishes the general responsibility of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force in “the planning, execution and control of military operations as required to ensure the defence of the Nation” and to “[conduct] operations as required to maintain internal order within the country.” The four forces “shall carry out activities of administrative policing and criminal investigation activities as provided for by law.” According to the Organic Law, each force has the following specific duties and attributions: (i) The Army (Fuerzas Terrestres or Ejército) is responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring terrestrial military operations362 in order to defend the country against the armed forces under constitutional provisions. Therefore, he has overall supervision and control over them. See: VENEZUELA. Constitution of Venezuela. Article 236; The National Armed Forces comprise five service components: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the National Guard, and the National Militia. Harold A Trinkunas p 129; Lating America in the post Chávez era: the security threat to America, Luis Fleischman, The orgining of the Chávez Bolivarian Revolution p 47 358 VENEZUELA. Constitution of Venezuela. Article 236(5) 359 VENEZUELA. Constitution of Venezuela. Article 236(6) 360 Gaceta Oficial Extraordinaria 5.891 (Federal Registry). A full text of the Law is available at: http://infovenezuela.org/democracy/attachments- spanish/T6%20ST01%20P7%20V2%20LOFAN.htm 361 EMBASSY OF THE BOLIVIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA TO THE UNITED STATES. (2007) Fact Sheet: Organic Law of the Bolivarian Armed Force. Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States. [Online] Available from: http://venezuela-us.org/live/wp- content/uploads/2009/08/FS-FANB-Law-Oct-20081.pdf [Accessed 24 October, 2015] 362 VENEZUELA. Organic Law of Police Service and National Police. Title 1, Chaper IV, Article 19 [Online] Available from: http://www.mp.gob.ve/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=29594&folderId=14478&name=DLFE- 3424.pdf [Accessed 24 October, 2015]