I don't know the details of that situation, but I can tell you that, generally speaking, it's part of a trend which, of course, is worrisome. As you mentioned, it reflects the shrinking of the public space. It is truly disheartening. As a result, this type of situation reduces, rather than strengthens, democracy in Venezuela.
That being said, this same type of operation happened in Caracas. You may be aware of the events relating to the mayor of the capital of Venezuela. In that regard, many things were done to reduce the power of municipal authorities, and the power at other levels of government, when the situation did not correspond to the ideology or the policies of the central government. I want to emphasize that these events are extremely worrisome. They were well documented in reports, including a report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
The purpose of my presentation was to explain the gray areas. Although what is happening reflects the challenges and weaknesses of Venezuela's political system and its democracy, one cannot say that the law, in the strictest sense of the word, has been violated. The government uses and mobilizes its popular support, and the support it receives from Parliament, to pass laws which, according to us and according to many Venezuelans, are illegitimate. However, this must not prevent us from acknowledging, as far as we can tell, that the Constitution of the country has not been violated. As I mentioned, however, people have repeatedly pushed up against the limits of what is legal and what is legitimate. Based on our understanding of democracy, this is fairly negative. Nevertheless, we cannot say that this is an undemocratic regime.