Venezuela court retreats from bid to boost president
CARACAS: Venezuela’s highest court on Saturday backtracked from efforts to tighten President Nicolas Maduro’s grip on power, after drawing international condemnation that raised pressure on the socialist leader as he clings to office.
In a rare climb-down by the president’s allies, the pro-Maduro Supreme Court retreated from rulings that prompted opposition calls for mass protests in a volatile country stricken by economic and political crisis.
The court said on its website that it was revoking a March 29 decision to take over legislative powers from the National Assembly, a move opponents had angrily branded as a “coup d’etat”.
It also revoked a ruling that stripped lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution, and it ended special powers it had conferred on Maduro over security legislation in the crisis.
Head of the court Maikel Moreno dismissed allegations that its rulings had deprived the legislative branch “of its functions – nor have they dissolved or canceled it.”
In a statement read before representatives of the diplomatic corps, Moreno said the court recognises assembly “immunity as a guarantee of legislative activity, with limitations” set by the constitution.
Opposition assembly speaker Julio Borges dismissed the court’s gesture. “Nothing has changed. The coup d’etat continues,” he said.
Opposition groups went ahead with planned street rallies in Caracas on Saturday.
At a gathering of lawmakers on a public square in Caracas, opposition congressional leader Stalin Gonzalez said the assembly should move to suspend the judges.
That would be a difficult task, since it would require support from senior state officials who support Maduro.
“We want general elections, not dialogue,” said retiree Eugenia Salazar, 67, one of hundreds of people who attended the gathering.
The court “violated the constitution by trying to dissolve the parliament. Now they are going back on that, but this is still a dictatorship.” – AFP