Undeniably, Venezuela is a dictatorship:
Venezuela Supreme Court Assumes Powers of Opposition-Controlled Congress
The Supreme Court, which is packed with allies of President Nicolás Maduro, ruled late Wednesday that the congress was in contempt of court for having sworn in three lawmakers from the remote Amazonas state whom the ruling party had accused of electoral fraud. The court said it takes over all “parliamentary capacities” until the conflict is resolved.
“Maduro now has all powers in his hands, without any checks and balances,” Mr. [Assembly President Julio] Borges said. “This is the action of a desperate man who knows the whole world is turning against him.”
Maduro and his regime have been doing this for a while; this move only makes it official. As John Sexton points out,
As the country’s financial situation continued to deteriorate, the opposition party won 112 of 167 seats in the National Assembly in elections held in December 2015. However, before the outgoing socialists left office they helped stack the country’s Supreme Court with judges loyal to the socialists. The result was that even once the opposition took power in January 2016, nearly every effort they made to change the direction of the country has been overruled by the court.
Also remember that the chavistas banned Maria Corine Machado and other elected assemblymen, after assaulting them, indicting them and breaking their noses didn’t work.
"What more evidence does the international community need that there is a #dictatorship in #Venezuela?" Says @hcapriles #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/nX236h1Tkr
— Michael Welling (@WellingMichael) March 31, 2017
Headline roundup:
Stripped of their powers, Venezuelan lawmakers accuse Maduro of a ‘coup’
Venezuela court effectively shuts down congress as opposition cries ‘coup’
Venezuelan president accused of coup after court strips lawmakers of power
Venezuela Muzzles Legislature, Moving Closer to One-Man Rule
Venezuelan Political Crisis Grows After High Court Dissolves Congress
US State Department, Lawmakers Condemn Venezuela Power Grab
Venezuela plunged into turmoil as top court muzzles congress
Venezuela ‘coup’: Alarm grows as court takes power
Earlier this week, the NYTimes editorial board was calling for humanitarian aid to Venezuela,
A more fruitful step for the international community would be to find ways to help alleviate Venezuela’s immediate problems. The most urgent issue is persuading the government to accept humanitarian aid by putting forward detailed offers of needed food and medicine. A growing number of Venezuelans are going hungry in a food shortage, and dying from treatable ailments in squalid, ill-equipped hospitals.
Perhaps the Times board instead ought to consider appealing to Venezuela’s vice-president El Aisami,
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro stated that the United States Treasury Department has frozen nearly US $3 billion of Venezuela Vice-President Tareck El Aissami’s assets, “an amount equivalent to half the cost of the country’s 2012 food imports.”
