Opposition
leaders branded Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro a
"dictator" on Thursday after the Supreme Court took over the
functions of Congress and pushed a
lengthy political standoff to new heights.
There was
swift international condemnation of the de facto annulment of the National
Assembly, where the opposition won a majority in late 2015 amid an
unprecedented economic crisis that has seen Maduro's popularity plummet.
The head of
the 34-nation Organization of International States (OAS), Luis Almagro, said the
Venezuelan court had dealt the final blows to democracy in the country and
accused Maduro's "regime" of carrying out a "coup."
Brazil,
Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Chile expressed strong concerns while Peru
withdrew its envoy after what it termed a rupture of democracy in the OPEC
nation of 30 million people.
Venezuela's
top court had already overturned most National Assembly decisions since the
opposition win. Then late on Wednesday, it explicitly stated it was assuming
Congress' role in a ruling authorizing Maduro to create oil joint ventures
without the previously mandated congressional approval.
"As long
as the situation of contempt in the National Assembly continues, this
constitutional chamber guarantees congressional functions will be exercised by
this chamber or another chosen organ," the court said in its ruling.
The contempt
charge stems from vote-buying accusations against three lawmakers from southern
Amazonas state. Even though these legislators no longer sit, the court said
parliamentary leaders had not handled their case legally.
Critics of
Maduro say it is all an excuse for him to consolidate power and muzzle the
opposition amid a severe recession, soaring inflation and acute shortages of
food and medicine.
Maduro, a
54-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, was narrowly elected in
2013 to replace late leftist President Hugo Chavez. He has accused Washington
of leading a push to topple him as part of a wider offensive against leftist
governments.
Stung by the
rebukes around Latin America, Maduro's government condemned what it described
as a "right-wing regional pact" against it on Thursday.
"We reject
the Peruvian government's rude support for the violent and extremist sectors in
Venezuela," Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said in a series of tweets.
Leaders of
Venezuela's Democratic Unity opposition coalition renewed their demand for
early presidential elections and accused Maduro of duplicating Peruvian leader
Alberto Fujimori's notorious 1992 closure of Congress.
"Nicolas
Maduro has carried out a 'coup d'etat' ... this is a dictatorship," said
National Assembly President Julio Borges, before tearing up a copy of the
Supreme Court ruling at a news conference in the gardens of the legislature.
"This is
trash from people who have kidnapped the constitution, rights and freedom of
Venezuelans ... The National Assembly does not recognize the Supreme Court."
PROTESTS
The opposition
promised new street protests starting from Saturday - but that tactic has
failed in the past despite marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of
protesters.
Last year, the
opposition pushed for a referendum to recall Maduro and force a new
presidential election, but authorities thwarted them and also postponed local
electoral races that were supposed to have been held in 2016.
Maduro's term
in office ends in January 2019.
Around a dozen
opposition lawmakers trying to march to the Supreme Court on Thursday clashed
with National Guard soldiers and pro-government supporters lined up to stop
them.
"If the
international community stays firm, demanding elections, we are sure the
government will have to turn back," another opposition leader Henrique
Capriles said.
"We
insist on a democratic solution."
Spooked by the
opposition's warning that investment deals bypassing Congress would not be
valid, foreign oil companies were closely following the political showdown.
As Venezuela
tries to raise funds for bond payments and a reeling economy, it has sought to
sell stakes in oil fields. State oil company PDVSA recently offered Russia's
Rosneft a stake in the Petropiar oil joint venture, sources with knowledge of
the proposal told Reuters.
"We want
to make perfectly clear to all the oil companies that any strategic alliance
(that did not go through Congress) is null," Borges said on Thursday.
While some
investors could see the Supreme Court sentence as giving them the green light
to invest, others are increasingly worried about Venezuela's murky legal
framework.
"There is
reasonable doubt about the legality of all this," said a source at a
foreign oil company.
*REUTERS*
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