The AFP's headline is somewhat misleading: Lobo Sosa will not be calling for a Constituyente.
What he says he will do is quite a bit different:
"After they tell us the reforms, we will translate them into proposals for the National Congress to do what is normal in Congress, to analyze, discuss, generate consensus, and reform laws or approve new laws....I will advance the discussion of reforms because we can't sit around waiting for a Constituyente to be approved."So pretty clearly, no Constituyente; no popular debate about fundamental reorientation of the political system and codification of rights of women and minorities; just constitutional reform as business-as-usual, perpetuating existing power relations.
That doesn't merit the headline of the AFP, or the promotion the same misinformation is getting now in venues like the AP.
Lobo Sosa won't be proposing anything himself; he'll just be listening.
Historically, Lobo Sosa has used dialogues like this to cull ideas for legislation, meeting with the obvious interest groups to which he and the National Party are oriented, not, for example, the FNRP or campesino groups.
The groups presenting ideas in the present dialogues will come from recognized sectors of society (e.g. business associations, the churches, the UCD, the political parties), each in its own separate dialogue with Lobo Sosa.
The participants will be limited to invited interest groups, and if you don't fall into one of those groups you will be voiceless in this process.
So, the key will be seeing who is invited to talk to Lobo Sosa. Will the FNRP get a hearing? How on earth could Lobo Sosa think he can accommodate what the Frente is calling for within the existing government processes?Any source
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