The official end of judicial independence in Venezuela

Venezuela News and Views ^ | Dec. 13, 2004 | Daniel Duquenal

[Kitten Festival]

The official end of judicial independence in Venezuela Today the National Assembly named the new members of the TSJ, our High Court, based on the new law voted a few months ago. At least the opposition had the delicacy to step out of the assembly when the vote took place.

It is fair to say that today is a dark day in Venezuelan history. By packing the TSJ with 17 political appointees, the Government ensures that his already clear majority in the present Court will be a large one, a commanding one in every single of the different court halls that comprise the TSJ. In this new travesty of justice, if you want to have a chance to get at least a fair hearing you better show that you like Chavez. If a foreign company wants to invest in Venezuela, it better have chavista partner if it gets involved in some suit. And so on.

If some reader thinks that I am exaggerating, it is enough to look at some of the newly appointees. The reader could start by looking at the video clip from today session, as shown on Globovision news. Some of the candidates were sitting at a honor balcony. When the vote was officially cast they stood up cheering. One of them even brandished the fist high on, and start hitting his chest rhythmically to let make sure were his partial ideology rested. Yes, this man will be one of the new fair and impartial judges of the Republic.

[Kitten Festival]

Daniel has just won the best blogger contest for Latin America and has one of the finest blogs out there. His fine essay here is well worth reading - he describes the stacking of the Venezuelan court system that Chavez did today. Can you imagine having to watch that in your own country? Terrible. Worse yet, he talks about the separate pigs and hogs who are being stacked. It's really gross. One of the cosa nostra hogs likes to sit up on the bench and literally pick his nose. Typical communist.