Controversial Venezuela court ruling annulled

CARACAS: Venezuela’s progovernment Supreme Court on Saturday revoked its controversial annulment of the oppositionled Congress amid international condemnation and protests against socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Unprecedented pressure from other Latin American nations and dissent within its own ranks appear to have been the catalyst for the court reversing its Wednesday ruling.

“This controversy is over,” Maduro said just after midnight to a specially convened state security committee that ordered the top court to reconsider.

The court duly erased the two controversial judgments and its president, Maikel Moreno, met foreign envoys for a briefing.

While Maduro, 54, sought to cast developments as the achievement of a statesman resolving a power conflict beneath him, his foes said it was a hypocritical row-back by an unpopular government that had overplayed its hand.

“You can’t pretend to just normalise the nation after carrying out a ‘coup,’” said Julio Borges, leader of the National Assembly legislature. He publicly tore up the court rulings this week and refused to attend the security committee, which includes the heads of major institutions.

Having already shot down most congressional measures since the opposition won control in 2015, the pro-Maduro Supreme Court went further on Wednesday with a ruling it was taking over the legislature’s functions because it was in “contempt” of the law.

That galvanised Venezuela’s demoralised and divided opposition coalition and brought a torrent of international condemnation and concern ranging from the United Nations and European Union to most major Latin American countries.

The Supreme Court’s flip-flop may take the edge off protests but Maduro’s opponents at home and abroad will seek to maintain the pressure. They are furious that authorities thwarted a push for a referendum to recall Maduro last year and postponed local elections scheduled for 2016.