Press. voanews.com
Venezuela's chief prosecutor broke with the government on Friday and
rebuked a Supreme Court decision stripping Congress of its last vestiges of
power, showing a crack in the unity of the embattled socialist government of
President Nicolas Maduro as it came under a torrent of international
condemnation over what many decried as a major step toward dictatorship.
In a shocking pronouncement, long-time government loyalist Luisa Ortega
Diaz said it was her "unavoidable historical duty'' as the nation's top
judicial authority to denounce what she called a "rupture'' of the
constitutional order.
"We call for reflection, so that the democratic path can be
retaken,'' she said to the loud applause of aides gathered around her. The
statement gave a major boost to the opposition, some of whom spent the day
sparring with riot police and gearing up for what they hope will be nationwide
protests Saturday.
The Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that as long as lawmakers
remained in contempt of court rulings that nullified all legislation passed by
the chamber, the high court can assume the constitutionally assigned powers of
the National Assembly, which has been controlled by the opposition for nearly a
year and a half.
The United States and governments across Latin America condemned the
power grab, which the head of the Organization of American States likened to a
"self-inflicted coup'' by the leftist Maduro. The United Nations' top
human rights official also expressed "grave concern'' and called on the
high court to reverse its decision.
Opposition leaders, long-marginalized during the past 17 years of
socialist rule, called on other public officials to follow Ortega Diaz's
example. They also urged the military, the traditional arbiter of political
disputes in Venezuela, to break its silence and defend the constitution drafted
by late President Hugo Chavez to which it swore allegiance.
"You have a new opportunity to show the country and international
community if you are with the dictatorship or want your children and
grandchildren to grow and live in a country where there's democracy and
liberty,'' said David Smolansky, a Caracas area mayor.
Amid so much intrigue, the normally ever-present Maduro was
conspicuously silent and by late Friday had not commented on the ruling, nor
had leaders of his ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela. His foreign
minister was forced to abruptly cancel a meeting with diplomats in the capital
to explain the ruling after Colombia, Chile and Peru withdrew their
ambassadors. The Mercosur trade bloc, which suspended Venezuela in December,
called an emergency meeting Saturday in Argentina to discuss the crisis.
"This clearly destroys the most important pillar of any democracy,
which is popular representation,'' said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos,
who in the past has been reluctant to criticize Maduro, fearing a backlash
against the millions of Colombians who live in Venezuela and in recent months
have been flocking home in the face of the worsening economic crisis.
A day after the Trump administration strongly criticized the Supreme
Court's move and called on Maduro to free political prisoners, the State
Department pointed to the OAS as the best place to address concerns about
Venezuela.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called an emergency meeting to
discuss the crisis after two previous sessions this week ended with 20
governments led by the U.S. and Mexico voicing deep concern but no concrete
actions to hold Maduro accountable.
"This is a decisive hour for the region,'' said opposition leader
Henrique Capriles, who met Friday with Almagro in Washington. We'll find out
"who is with the people and democracy and who is with corruption and
dictatorship.''
In Caracas, national guardsmen in riot gear fired buckshot and swung
batons at a group of students who gathered outside the Supreme Court. Several
protesters were arrested and some journalists had their cameras seized. One
journalist, from Colombia's Caracol Radio, was surrounded by a dozen military
members who swung her around by her arms and legs, and appeared to hit and drag
her.
Despite the sporadic flare-ups Friday it wasn't clear if critics of the
government were in the mood for another street fight after past attempts
fizzled or ended in bloodshed with little to show. Weeks of unrest in 2014 left
more than 40 dead and dozens arrested, while a mass protest last September was
followed a few days later by authorities cancelling a recall petition campaign
seeking to force Maduro from office before his term ends in 2019.
What could be different this time is that Venezuela's economy is on its
knees. Regional governments, as well as the Trump administration, seem far more
engaged in seeking a solution to the political and increasingly humanitarian
crisis that threatens to spill beyond the country's borders.
National Assembly President Julio Borges said Friday that while on
previous occasions lawmakers in Venezuela have "tired their fingers''
making phone calls to raise international awareness of what was occurring in
Venezuela, the last two days have been the "complete opposite.''
The world's leaders have been calling "not to ask what is
happening, but to express solidarity,'' he said. The Supreme Court's ruling and
another earlier this week limiting lawmakers' immunity from prosecution capped
a feud that began when the opposition won control of the legislature by a
landslide in December 2015 and then mounted a campaign to force Maduro from
office.
The leftist leader, who has seen his approval ratings plunge amid
widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation, responded by relying on
the Supreme Court to unseat several opposition lawmakers and then issue an
order nullifying all legislation passed by the National Assembly.
The government argues that the ruling was not seeking to supplant
Congress but rather to guarantee the rule of law as long as legislators remain
obstructionist by refusing to sign off on a budget and key economic decisions
like a plan by Venezuela's state-run oil company to form joint ventures with
private companies, including Russia's Rosneft.
"It's untrue that a coup has taken place in Venezuela,'' the
government said in a statement Thursday. "On the contrary, the
institutions have taken corrective legal action to stop the distractive,
coup-like actions of an opposition that has declared itself openly in contempt
of the decisions made by the republic's top court.''
Luis Vicente Leon, a Caracas-based pollster, said that while the ruling
completely "pulverizes the separation of powers,'' Venezuela had long ago
stopped operating like a normal democracy with a clear rule of law and
independent institutions. He predicted the government would harden its position
in the face of growing economic woes and international pressure, further
dashing hopes for dialogue and an electoral solution.
"It's perfectly predictable that the government is going to keep
radicalizing,'' he said.