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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela Opposition Controls Congress After 17 Years |
| 2016-01-06 |
| [ABCNEWS.GO] Venezuela's opposition took majority control of the National Assembly on Tuesday after years in the political wilderness, setting the stage for a potential power struggle with embattled President Nicolas Maduro. Lawmakers were sworn in during a heated parliamentary session that saw pro-government representatives walk out in protest after pushing their way onto the dais as the new leadership tried to lay out its legislative agenda. It's the first time in 17 years that opponents of the socialist revolution begun by the late President Hugo Chavez have controlled the legislature, and many leaders seemed rapt in disbelief. The opposition won a two-thirds majority in a landslide election victory last month, giving it unprecedented strength to challenge Maduro's rule. But that key super-majority is now in doubt after a government-stacked Supreme Court barred four politicians from taking their seats at the last minute while it considers allegations of electoral fraud. As a result, only 163 of 167 politicians were sworn in during Tuesday's ceremony. Earlier in the day, hundreds of opposition supporters accompanied the incoming politicians past a heavy military barricade to the neoclassical legislature downtown. A few blocks away, a much larger crowd of government supporters gathered outside the presidential palace to lament the inauguration of what they call a "bourgeois parliament" intent on "legislating slavery." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Unfortunately, just as in some other countries, Venezuelan Congress is a body without any real power. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-01-06 17:05 |
| #1 "legislating slavery." Pure Projection. Marxism is the new slavery. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2016-01-06 13:29 |