Venezuela’s Maduro tightens grip on power, helped by coronavirus lockdown
CARACASVenezuela’s embattled ruler President Nicolas Maduro has made the most of the coronavirus lockdown to stamp his authority over the country’s key political institutions, all in the matter of a week.
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan Supreme Court suspended the leadership of the main opposition party Primero Justicia and ruled that a progovernment lawmaker should be in charge. On Monday, the same happened to the secondlargest opposition party, Acción Democrática. Both decisions were based on complaints from expelled party members.
A week earlier, the nation’s highest court appointed the new members of the Electoral Council, a body of five officials tasked with organizing elections. Of the new magistrates, two previously served as judges in the same Supreme Court, and one is a former Socialist lawmaker who’s been under US sanctions since 2017. The court, which has traditionally supported the president, made the decision even though the Venezuelan constitution states the National Assembly which is controlled by the opposition should elect the members of the Electoral Council. The ruling was part of a pattern whereby the top court has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the assembly. Hailing the rulings on Tuesday, Maduro declared: “We’re going to change everything that must be changed at the National Assembly. With lots of strength and lots of faith, our action will be grandiose.” The rapidsuccession rulings by the Supreme Court suggest the equilibrium is tilting in Venezuela and that Maduro feels confident enough to cement his rule while the opposition has been effectively silenced by coronavirus. Until at least March 2020, Venezuela lived through a sort of institutional limbo: on one side was Maduro, who has ruled the country since 2013 and who is accused of rigging election after election and transforming his presidency in a dictatorship. On the other side was Juan Guaidó, the leader of the National Assembly who the US and tens of other countries recognize as the legitimate interim president as long as Maduro stays in power. (CNN)