As soon as the Draft Organic Law on Special Economic Zones was published on the website of the National Assembly, it became evident that the text was written in a fairly vague language, suggesting substantial differences with the versions that circulated online and that were the subject of criticism, including by myself.

Now, let’s focus on the last version that was approved during the first discussion at the National Assembly, and let’s continue debating on what is apparent and what is not so apparent about its content.

I must begin by saying that this proposal cannot be seen outside of the legislative agenda for 2021, just like the unconstitutional “anti-blockade law”, since these are part of an economic and political strategy that has been tried to be implemented and consolidated in the country for some years now.

To discern the apparent from the not so apparent about this set of laws, we have to refer to the creation and unfolding of the Orinoco Mining Arc Special Economic Zone (ZEE AMO) and the elements that come to define this strategy.

  1. Let’s compare the draft Law in Special Economic Zones with decree 2248 that created the Orinoco Mining Arc Special Economic Zone, which is still in force:
  2. Both instruments grant powers, outside the Constitution, to the president of the Republic to fragment the national territory. (Art 2 of decree 2248 and Art 7 of the draft law.
  3. The Orinoco Mining Arc Special Economic Zone constitutes a republic within the Republic with a legal and fiscal framework different from the one that operates in the rest of the national territory (Art 6 and 21). The draft law provides for the same in articles 19, 20, and 21. This violates article 317 of the Constitution.
  4. Article 25 of decree 2248 constitutes a manifest violation of labor rights. In the case of the draft Law on Special Economic Zones, the laxity of the protection of labor rights is evident throughout the bill with the recurrent mention of the euphemism of the competitive advantages of the country to “attract private national and foreign investment”.
  • There is no doubt that we are witnessing the unfolding of a neoliberal strategy under the tutelage of an authoritarian government, whose proposal for the development of the so-called Special Economic Zones are centered on economic, financial, fiscal, labor, and environmental deregulation for the benefit of capital.
  • The bill speaks of “making use of the comparative advantages of our country” and, above all, “taking advantage of the potential of the national economy, especially its competitive advantages”.
    • Comparative advantages refer to the potential of a country in terms of geographical location (proximity to markets of interest), infrastructure (ports, airports, roads, etc.), and, above all, natural resources.
    • Regarding competitive advantages, the term refers to two key concepts; cost advantage and differentiation. We cannot deny the fact that having the cheapest labor in the world plays a prominent role, as well as a significant amount of natural resources that could give certain companies access to raw materials to achieve a significant level of differentiation.
  • Chapter IV of the draft Law on Special Economic Zones defines the tax and customs incentives to which “investors” may be subject.
  • The bill speaks of financial and foreign exchange deregulation (Article 25): This means the institutionalization of a mechanism for money laundering and the fueling of the “shadow economy” that has been operating in the country as an expression of the crisis. We must remember that one of the advocates of this bill has talked of allowing the construction of gambling facilities for “recreation”.
  • The government has indeed made some progress in the creation of special economic zones. Therefore, it is not true that this bill is intended to open a debate on the issue, as some spokesmen for the government have been asserting.

Besides the establishment of the Orinoco Mining Arc, the evidence of this blatant lie is the creation of The Special Military Economic Zone No. 1, in Aragua, and the Special Military Economic Zone for Forest Development that covers part of the territory of the states of Bolívar and Delta Amacuro. The areas were designated on December 22 through presidential decree No. 4,391 and 4,392. 

There is no doubt that the national Executive branch has been making progress in the consolidation of an authoritarian neoliberal extractivist model, and the entire set of institutional decisions and bills that are part of the legislative agenda for 2021, including the unconstitutional “anti-blockage Law”, is nothing more than evidence of this.

Translated by José Rafael Medina