Venezuelan government leaders on Saturday urged the country’s Supreme Court to review its decision to take over the National Assembly’s legislative powers, a much-decried move that opposition members have called a coup.
President Nicolas Maduro, flanked by other top officials, appeared on national television early Saturday, hours after Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz decried the court’s ruling.
Observers of the nation’s politics believe Maduro’s government was attempting to assure Venezuelans it was addressing the controversy ahead of another day of protests.
“We’ve reached an important agreement to solve this controversy,” said Maduro, who didn’t elaborate. Vice President Tareck El Aissami read a six-point communique that included the request for the court to re-examine its finding.
Protests erupt
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that all powers vested under the legislative body will be transferred to the court, which is stacked with government loyalists.
The argument behind the ruling was that the assembly was in contempt of law for ignoring a court order preventing the swearing-in of three legislators from Amazonas state whose elections the court had deemed invalid.
The court’s move means the three branches of the Venezuelan government will be controlled by the ruling United Socialist Party.
The protests erupted on the street and in the halls of government.
National Assembly President Julio Borges called the court decision a coup staged by Maduro. The ruling spurred anti-government protests on Friday and clashes between demonstrators and the National Guard outside the Supreme Court building.
Ortega, long perceived as a Maduro loyalist, said the decision “constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order.”
The communique
The point in the communique that calls for a court review of its decision also stresses that the move was made with the intention “to maintain institutional stability and the balance of powers.”
Other points include:
• an affirmation of the court’s authority to determine the constitutionality of any actions by the other branches of government;
• a call for national dialogue to be mediated by statesmen such as former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, former Latin American leaders and Pope Francis;.
• an emphasis on Maduro’s efforts in the search for solutions to resolve constitutional conflicts; and
• a repudiation of any intervention that attacks the nation’s sovereignty.
There has been no word yet from opposition politicians upset by the court’s move, including Borges. He snubbed a late-night meeting to draw up the communique.
Venezuelans suffer from chronic food and medical shortages. The country is plagued by an economic crisis caused by massive government overspending and corruption, mismanaged resources and low oil prices.