Venezuela’s opposition cries foul after judges ban four lawmakers

CARACAS — Jailed hardline opposition leader Lepoldo López said yesterday it will be necessary to “remove” Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro from power if he refuses to recognize “by way of the facts” the recent election results, which gave anti-government parties a majority in the next National Assembly.

“If Maduro and the rest of the heads of the powers kidnapped by a corrupt and undemocratic elite torpedo change, by way of ignoring the facts, the results of last December 6, he will have to be removed,” Lopez wrote in a letter sent from prison.

The Popular Will leader was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for inciting violence in anti-government protests in early 2014 and is currently jailed at the Ramo Verde prison. López said Maduro must leave office in “a constitutional way, as fast as possible.”

Rhetoric has hardened in recent days after Venezuela’s opposition reacted angrily to a Supreme Court decision in the early hours of New Year’s Eve that bars four recently-elected lawmakers from taking their seats in the National Assembly, branding it a “judicial coup.”

The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition vowed to respect the voters’ will when a new session starts next week.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado called the ruling of the Supreme Court “non-existent” because “its judges were appointed unconstitutionally.”

Four lawmakers banned

Without explaining why, the high court released a decision suspending the inauguration of four of the lawmakers declared winners after the opposition swept December 6 legislative elections. Three are anti-government and one is a member of the ruling Socialist (PSUV) party, with all from the sparsely populated state of Amazonas. The court said it will also consider challenges to a handful of other lawmakers, but has so far stopped short of barring those representatives from taking office.

The ruling could undermine the opposition’s newly won two-thirds legislative “super-majority” and limit its power. The opposition won a landslide victory in the December 6 legislative elections, taking control of Congress for the first time in more than a decade. The coalition captured 112 of 167 seats, giving it by one seat a two-thirds majority that would allow it to rein in Maduro’s powers. It would be able to censure top officials and rewrite basic laws and could open the door to recalling the president or even rewriting the Constitution.

Opposition leaders are pledging that the barred lawmakers will attend the first session of the new congress on January 5.

Henrique Capriles, who lost the last presidential vote to Maduro, called yesterday for the Armed Forces to protect opposition politicians and help them to take their seats in the National Assembly on January 5. He said the “colectivos” of the government were planning to “impede” the new lawmakers from taking their seats.

In the final weeks of the outgoing National Assembly’s term, PSUV lawmakers approved new Supreme Court judges and made a series of other appointments, and Maduro has been using his expiring decree powers granted by Congress to institute a series of new laws.

On Wednesday, Maduro appeared on national television to announce additional decrees, including raising taxes on high earners, but did not mention the court ruling.

Gas exports to Colombia cut

Venezuela’s state oil company is temporarily halting gas exports across the border to Colombia, citing climate factors and the need to generate electricity, the Colombian Mining Ministry said yesterday.

The ministry said that PDVSA notified it that supplies would be suspended as of yesterday because of “the behaviour of electrical energy generation due to climatic variability.”

— Herald with agencies http://buenosairesherald.com/article/205929/venezuela%E2%80%99s-opposition-cries-foul-after-judges-ban-four-lawmakers