Venezuela’s top court reverses its decision to strip congress’ power
CARACAS, Venezuela— Venezuela’s Supreme Court backed down Saturday from a pair of rulings that triggered a constitutional crisis and sparked international condemnation, but antigovernment activists were proceeding with plans for a massive protest march.
President Nicolas Maduro, whose government had defended the controversial Supreme Court decisions, appeared on television late Friday after an emergency meeting of his security staff and declared the controversy over. “April is starting on a good step!” Maduro declared, the Associated Press reported. “Constitutional victory!”
Opposition leaders, however, renewed demands to move up national elections scheduled for next year. They rejected Maduro’s depiction of himself as an able leader who had worked to resolve the crisis. The Supreme Court, which earlier in the week issued a pair of rulings that essentially stripped the nation’s legislative branch of its powers, issued several clarifications on its website Saturday. The revised language appeared to reverse the earlier, controversial rulings labeling the opposition-controlled National Assembly in “contempt” of the law. The earlier court decisions had been met with censure from international and domestic critics, who viewed the rulings as an assault on separation of powers. Some labeled it a coup d’etat. Even the nation’s attorney general, Luisa Ortega Diaz, considered a Maduro loyalist, labeled the rulings a “rupture” of the constitutional order, a comment that signaled deep divisions within the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela. The controversial court decisions triggered a new wave of street protests. Maduro’s foes had long assailed the Supreme Court, which had blocked a succession of congressional measures since the opposition gained control of the National Assembly in 2015.
Opposition leaders sought to galvanize their case against the Maduro government and said the government’s apparent reversal of the court ruling would not alter their plans. Their aim is to end 18 years of socialist rule that critics say has wrecked the economy and left the South American nation a political, economic and social basket case, despite its vast oil reserves and previous status as one of Latin America’s richest nations. “The dire situation we’re living through in Venezuela remains the same,” said Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader and former presidential candidate, the AP reported. “There is nothing to clarify when it comes to respecting the constitution.”