Chavez Allies Push Through Contested Court Reforms

yahoo.comnews ^ | October 24, 2003 | Reuters

[Cincinatus' Wife]

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez Friday used their slim parliamentary majority to push through Supreme Court reforms the opposition fears could threaten its bid for a referendum to recall the leftist leader.

Following an all-night session lasting into Friday morning, the National Assembly approved the first articles of a law adding 12 more magistrates to the 20-member Supreme Court, lawmakers said.

Foes of the populist president fear that the reforms, once approved in their entirety, will allow the government to pack the Supreme Court with allies and tilt decisions in its favor.

"If the judiciary is controlled by the government, then the government is subject to no controls, no brakes," Gerardo Blyde of the opposition Primero Justicia party told Reuters.

Opposition leaders are campaigning to hold a referendum on Chavez's rule which will go ahead in late March 2004 if they collect enough pro-vote signatures next month.

As the Supreme Court could be the final judge in any electoral dispute, the opposition sees the reforms as part of a government strategy to try to torpedo the referendum process.

The reforms foresee that the new Supreme Court judges will be appointed by a simple majority in the divided parliament, where Chavez supporters control 83 of the 165 seats.

"It will mean that the government side, the president, can name the 12 with their majority," Blyde said.

Opposition deputies said they would try to block the legislation.

Chavez, who is accused by foes of ruling like a dictator, has criticized some Supreme Court rulings, especially one last year which threw out rebellion charges against military officers who led a brief coup against him in April 2002.

Earlier this month, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists sent a letter to the Venezuelan president warning that the Supreme Court reform would threaten the independence of the country's justice system.

The ICJ also expressed concern about a raid by Venezuela's state security police last month against the country's second most important court, the Administrative High Court.

This court was also fiercely criticized by Chavez after it ruled against government decisions to fire striking state oil workers and to bring in Cuban doctors to work in Venezuela.

The government ignored the rulings. It said the raid, which confiscated documents, was related to a suspected case of corruption.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela's Chavez warns supporters of referendum their names will be remembered***"Their names will be recorded forever."

"They should know that although they are not going to get (a referendum), their names will be recorded. Unlike in a vote, which is secret, they will sign. They will put their names and surnames, their national ID number and their fingerprint," he said.***

Venezuela's Recall***As the Chavez government tries to remain in office, state employees and students who signed the petition, or who are suspected of sympathizing with the political opposition, are being purged from jobs, internships and grants, according to dozens of interviews with trade unionists, students, state workers, lawyers and human rights activists.

And in an effort to discredit the recall movement, state workers whose names appear on the petition are being encouraged by the government to sign legal complaints alleging that their signatures were forged.

Former President Carlos Andres Perez predicts Chavez "will not have a peaceful exit" and will be forced out of office if he refuses to accept the recall vote. "Violence is bad, and we don't promote it," he recently told Colombia's daily newspaper, El Tiempo, "but no other option is possible." ***

[livius]

Oh boy. This is not good.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Did we expect anything less from Chavez?

[MonroeDNA]

Packing the court...this sounds familier.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Tried and true way to control the outcome.

[CPT Clay]

CW;
Thanks for keeping us posted on Venezuela!

I wish we had more of this coverage instead of Kobe,Lacy,Chandra etc etc etc.

[marron]

The present Supreme Court was appointed by Chavez. Which means he has lost control of his own hand-picked court.

He will stop the referendum any way he can, rig it to favor him, pack the ballot boxes, threaten voters, and if in the end he loses the ballots will be declared null and void.

He is not leaving office on his feet. He will only leave feet first. The only question is how many Venezuelans will die in the process.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

(((shaking my head)))

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They've tried playing by the rules but Chavez just walks right over them. There is no democracy in Venezuela now.

[friendly]

Chavez and his Cuban handlers are relentlessly and systematically eliminating every aspect of democracy. There will never be a referendum.

The only way Chavez will ever leave office is when he either (1) Assumes room temperature, or (2) Jets off to enjoy his Swiss bank account fortune one step ahead of the revolution.

BOYCOTT CITGO!!!! (Chavez' personal oil company)

[xrp]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Anyone who's watched Chavez, knew from the get-go there would never be a referendum. Carter knew too. His visit helped pour cold water on the opposition's momentum.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That parrot represents Chavez's little puppets, his Chavistas.

[friendly]

BTW, did you catch the liberal distortion from this report's title "Contested Court Reforms"??

Like calling murder "Contested Viability."