The Venezuelan Constitutional Assembly has assumed more power by declaring itself the superior body to all other Venezuelan governmental institutions, including the opposition-controlled congress.
That decree came on Tuesday, just hours after assembly delegates took control of a legislative chamber and put up pictures of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who installed the nation’s socialist system.
Delcy Rodriguez, the head of the ruling socialist party and leader of the body, said the unanimously approved decree prohibits lawmakers in congress from taking any action that would interfere with laws passed by the newly installed assembly.
Photo: AFP
“We are not threatening anyone,” Assembly Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz said. “We are looking for ways to coexist.”
Leaders of congress, which previously voted not to recognize any of the new super-body’s decrees, said lawmakers were to try to meet in the gold-domed legislative palace yesterday, but there were questions whether security officers guarding the building would let them in.
The opposition to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also faced another fight yesterday before the Venezuelan Supreme Court, which scheduled a hearing on charges against a Caracas-area opposition mayor.
The judges on Tuesday convicted another mayor for failing to move against protesters during four months of political unrest.
In calling the July 30 election for the Constitutional Assembly, Maduro said a new constitution would help resolve the nation’s political standoff, but opposition leaders view it is a power grab and the president’s allies have said they will go after his opponents.
Before its decree declaring itself all-powerful, the new assembly ousted Venezuela’s outspoken chief prosecutor, established a “truth commission” and pledged “support and solidarity” with the president.
The latest surge of protests began in early April in reaction to a quickly rescinded attempt by the Supreme Court to strip the National Assembly, or congress, of its powers.
However, the unrest ballooned into a widespread movement fed by anger over Venezuela’s triple-digest inflation, shortages of food and medicine, and high crime.
Opposition lawmakers said security forces led by Rodriguez broke into the congress building late on Monday and seized control of an unused, ceremonial chamber almost identical to the one where lawmakers meet.
“This government invades the spaces that it is not capable of legitimately winning,” Stalin Gonzalez, an opposition lawmaker, wrote on Twitter, alluding to the opposition’s overwhelming victory in the 2015 congressional elections.
The Constitutional Assembly’s meeting on Tuesday came amid mounting criticism from foreign governments that have refused to recognize the new body.
The foreign ministers of 17 nations met in Peru to discuss how to force Maduro to back down.
The ministers issued a statement after the meeting condemning the body and reiterating previous calls for the parties in Venezuela to negotiate on ending the political crisis.
Meanwhile, leaders from the Bolivarian Alliance, a coalition of 11 Latin American nations, met in Caracas and declared the creation of the Constitutional Assembly a “sovereign act” aimed at helping Venezuela overcome its difficulties.
“We reiterate the call for a constructive and respectful dialogue,” the alliance said in a statement read after the meeting.
Since the disputed election, security forces have stepped up their presence.
A UN human rights commissioner report issued on Tuesday spoke of “widespread and systematic use” of excessive force, arbitrary detention and other rights violations against demonstrators.
Only a few dozen demonstrators heeded the opposition’s call to set up traffic-snarling roadblocks in Caracas on Tuesday to show opposition to the new assembly, underlining the fear and resignation among that has weakened turnout for street protests that once drew hundreds of thousands.
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