Top prosecutor in Venezuela rebukes Supreme Court power grab

CARACAS, Venezuela ( AP) – 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 con- demned the power grab, which the head of the Organization of American States likened to a “selfinflicted 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.