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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela’s new assembly sacks chief prosecutor amid unrest |
| 2017-08-06 |
| [Iran Press TV] Venezuela’s newly-installed constitutional assembly has sacked the country’s chief prosecutor as a political crisis over President Nicolas Maduro’s alleged push to dismantle democratic institutions keeps dividing the South American nation. In its second meeting since inception, the assembly fired Luisa Ortega Diaz on Saturday and said further dismissals would be underway. The assembly said Tarek William Saab, a staunch government supporter and a Maduro loyalist, would replace Ortega Diaz as Venezuela’s attorney general. Saab currently serves as Venezuela’s top ombudsman. As members of the contested assembly unanimously voted to ax the attorney general, pro-government demonstrators rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against her. Earlier reports on Saturday said Ortega Diaz’s office had come under siege by military troops. The dissident prosecutor said on Twitter that troops had surrounded her office in downtown Caracas. Ortega Diaz published photos apparently taken from security cameras showing dozens of guards deployed in riot gear outside the headquarters. Reports said police had also imposed a lockdown in areas surrounding the office and access was completely restricted. A longtime loyalist of the government, the prosecutor has turned an arch critic and has repeatedly censured a recent popular vote for the setting up of an all-powerful pro-government national assembly, which has vowed to debate removing opponents, including Ortega Diaz, only in its second session on Saturday. |
| Posted by:Fred |