 Venezuela’s Supreme Court has consolidated President Nicolás Maduro’s power with a decision that removes budgetary authority from the nation’s Congress, the only institution that is controlled by the opposition.
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The judges’ decision allows the court itself to approve Mr. Maduro’s budget, which he is expected to present by decree on Friday. The move caps a yearlong effort by the leftist government to use the courts, which are controlled by Maduro loyalists, to neutralize the Congress.
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It could also forecast a more aggressive campaign by Mr. Maduro to derail the recall referendum.
Mr. Maduro came to power in 2013 upon the death of Hugo Chávez, the charismatic former army officer who founded Venezuela’s populist, leftist movement.
| By which the NYT should say, "socialist", but that would require them to blame socialism for what happened next... |
But after Mr. Maduro’s own election three years ago, the price of oil, which had financed Mr. Chávez’s many ambitious programs, went into a global tailspin. Since then, Mr. Maduro has presided over an economic collapse; food, medicine and electricity shortages; and rising crime.
| All brought on by socialism, thuggery, and theft... |
On Wednesday, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, a United Nations agency, forecast that Venezuela’s economy would shrink by 8 percent this year.
The ruling by the court’s constitutional chamber follows a raft of decisions against the opposition. The court has declared Congress in contempt and ruled that its laws are therefore unconstitutional. That dispute stems from the assembly’s decision to seat three legislators in defiance of another ruling by the court.
| There's really only one way this is going to end, and it's going to be decided by bullets... |
The courts also overturned an opposition law meant to stabilize the economy, limited lawmakers’ power to remove judges, and ratified an emergency decree that legislators had rejected.
In addition, judges invalidated a law that would have freed some 120 prisoners, many of them opposition politicians or activists jailed by the government during protests. The court’s initial onslaught against the assembly’s authority was a demoralizing blow to lawmakers who had taken power promising to free the prisoners immediately. |