Press. voanews.com
Venezuela’s Supreme Court is taking control of the opposition-controlled
legislative branch, a move that gives the Maduro administration license for a
"dictatorship," some observers say.
In a wide-ranging ruling issued late Wednesday, the court criticized the
National Assembly for what it called “disrespect and invalidity of its
proceedings.” It said as long as that persisted, “this Constitutional Chamber
will ensure that the parliamentary powers are exercised directly by this
chamber or by the body it has in place to ensure the rule of law.”
"Maduro is now the National Assembly,'' assembly leader Julio
Borges told The Associated Press, speaking of Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro. "It's one thing to try and build a dictatorship and another to
complete the circuit."
The decision follows Tuesday’s extraordinary meeting of the Organization
of American States, in which diplomats met in Washington to debate how to
resolve the South American country’s years-long political and humanitarian
crisis.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro had recommended suspending
Venezuela's membership in the group unless it released political prisoners and
scheduled long-delayed elections, but the United States and others urged giving
the country another chance to cooperate on re-establishing democratic norms.
The U.S. was one of 20 member states that committed to taking as-yet-uncertain
steps in guiding Venezuela toward that goal.
A protester mocking Uncle Sam holds a painting of OAS leader Luis
Almagro at a rally against the United States and possible OAS sanctions, in
Caracas, Venezuela, March 28, Hours before the decision was announced,
Eustoquio Contreras, a legislator and deputy of the pro-government Polo Democratico
party, defended Maduro.
He told VOA in a phone interview Wednesday that “we are seriously
threatened in our institutions. The government has had to choose to govern by
decree and the extraordinary way, because the opposition has not ceased to advance
its own interests. …”
Unusual decision
A constitutional expert said Wednesday’s ruling enables the government
to suspend elections, detain deputies and withdraw Venezuela from the OAS. "This
is not an ordinary sentence," said Luis Salamanca, a political scientist
at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. He told El Nacional
newspaper that the ruling gives socialist Maduro the power to "practically
handle everything without any respect for the rules set out in the
charter."
The National Mesa Bureau, an opposition group, condemned the court’s
decision as a flagrant violation of the constitution. The bureau said in a
statement that the government had resorted to "desperate measures."
It said that, through "legal aberration, the Constitutional Chamber urges
the president to review criminal and even military laws under the state of
emergency," allowing him to more directly attack the democratically
elected National Assembly and its leaders.
'Not democracy'
In Washington, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio told the Voice of America that
"what exists in Venezuela today is not democracy." Reflecting on
Tuesday’s OAS session and representatives’ stances on Venezuela, the Florida
Republican added, "I thank the countries like Mexico, Peru, Brazil,
Colombia, Argentina, Honduras and others that have been clear in their position
and I think it is unfortunate that countries like Dominican Republic, Haiti and
El Salvador have used that [session] as an opportunity to defend the tyranny of
Maduro." VOA Spanish Service's Gioconda Tapia Reynolds and Gesell Tobias
contributed to this report.