The growing socialist dictatorship in Venezuela hit a speedbump briefly when the opposition to Venezuelan President Maduro gained a (disputed) supermajority in the legislature. Despite this, Maduro’s power grab had proceeded unabated, if not outright accelerated.
The Venezuelan Supreme Court, packed with Maduro’s minions, recently outright assumed all legislative powers from the Venezuelan Congress:
“In a ruling published late Wednesday, the Supreme Court said that while the National Assembly continued to defy court rulings all of its actions were ‘invalid’ and that ‘the activities of the parliament would be exercised directly by [this court].'”
Perhaps, though Maduro went a little too far too fast, with protests galore:
“Some criticism even came from within government, with Attorney General Luisa Ortega rebuking the court in an extremely rare show of dissent from a senior official.
“‘It constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order,’ she said in a speech on state television on Friday.”
But the damage was done:
“President Nicolas Maduro asked the Supreme Court in a late-night speech to review a ruling nullifying the branch of power that set off a storm of criticism from the opposition and foreign governments. The court on Saturday reinstated congress’ authority.
“It was a rare instance of the embattled socialist president backing away from a move to increase his power. Opposition leaders dismissed the reversal as too little too late. They said the clarification issued by the judges only proved yet again that Maduro controls the courts and there is no longer a real separation of powers in Venezuela.”
Venezuela is on a knife edge. Will it fall to the side of the protesters and those who are standing up to Maduro, and Maduro’s backing down might suggest, or does this mean it will fall on the side of Maduro, who will now bide his time rather than jump the gun? Or perhaps, the knife will just cut deeply… far to deeply.
A little mood music:
