Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro apparently felt the international pressure of what many believed to be a government coup and declared that "this controversy is over" Saturday morning with a “specially convened state security committee,” according to a report by Reuters. The controversy he referred to was what many considered a takeover of the nation's Congressional body by handing their power over to the Supreme Court which is pro-Maduro.
The Congress is led by the opposition party which he has often accused of trying to overthrow him.
The mentioned committee reportedly “ordered” the Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling they tried to enforce Wednesday accusing the court of creating a dictatorship. The president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice spoke with foreign envoys and journalists to say that their intention was never to take power away from the National Assembly. While President Maduro takes credit for “ending” the controversy, the head of the legislature Julio Borges was quoted by Reuters as saying, “you can't pretend to just normalize the nation after carrying out a 'coup.'”
Julio Borges tears up court rulings
It was reported that Borges publicly tore up court rulings and did not attend the security committee which was assembled Friday night and into Saturday morning.
Instead, according to the same report, “he led an open-air meeting of the National Assembly in a Caracas square on Saturday.” It also recalls that the opposition took over Congress in 2015 but that the Supreme Court has “shot down” most congressional measures since then and so to the National Assembly it appeared that the Supreme Court was trying to take power from them by replacing the Assembly last Wednesday.
That's when the Assembly finally saw this as a largely anti-democratic measure and said that it was illegal. The European Union, United Nations, the United States and other countries, which is nothing new, accused the Venezuelan president of the same power grab. Last year, Maduro's opposition demanded a referendum to recall the President but the effort was “thwarted” by authorities.
Venezuelans are angered by Maduro for a struggling economy and extreme food shortages which forced many to eat their own pets, other animals, and even overpower security forces at the border with Colombia to enter and buy goods. At the time, Maduro reportedly gave power to the military to oversee ports and food supplies which angered his opposition even more.
Maduro fires back at international opposition
President Maduro has enough words left for those outside of Venezuela's borders to accuse them of also trying to oust him. He targeted the U.S. for trying to oust him again, which he has also done over the past several years along with his predecessor President Chavez who was also critical of the U.S.
when he was president. Its been reported that South America's MERCOSUR met on Saturday in Argentina as they are also not very happy with Maduro. The hemispheric Organization of American States is scheduled to hold a special session in Washington on Monday, who are also concerned with Maduro's recent move. The report points out that due to the failure of mass protests over the years that the opposition is hoping pressure on Maduro will come from the outside.
The prosecutor general Luisa Ortega Diaz was most vocal about the "coup" attempt by President Maduro last week, and the one who had more of a lasting impact as a guideline of what Maduro is up against as she was appointed by former President Chavez. Diaz has been more active in jailing Maduro's opponents over the years and for her to criticize Maduro is considered a bad sign for the President.