Posted on 03/31/2017 3:34:43 AM PDT by Islander7
IQUITOS, Peru — Venezuela took its strongest step yet toward one-man rule under the leftist President Nicolás Maduro as his loyalists on the Supreme Court seized power from the National Assembly in a ruling late Wednesday night.
The ruling effectively dissolved the elected legislature, which is led by Mr. Maduro’s opponents, and allows the court to write laws itself, experts said.
The move caps a year in which the last vestiges of Venezuela’s democracy have been torn down, critics and regional leaders say, leaving what many now describe as not just an authoritarian regime, but an outright dictatorship.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oneida Guaipe, an opposition lawmaker from the country’s central coast, said the body would continue to do its work, even if its laws would now be ignored when it produced legislation. “This is demonstrating before the world the authoritarianism here,” she said. “The people chose us through a popular vote.”
It’s interesting....here is a guy who never graduated from high school, and whose only paying occupation in his life....was roughly five years working as a bus-driver, who has become the dictator of a banana-republic.
Seems to me that some of these Hollywood types could round up a couple of comedians and go make a decent comedy of the rise of a bus driver to national thug-dictator.
Venezuelans voted themselves largesse and all they got was a Che ti-shirt. Well, not even that. Just a dictatorship.
What is more amazing is that in the whole country of Venezuela, suffering so much as it is, there is no group of men with the balls to take out the trash and save the country.
Seems to me that some of these Hollywood types cant wait to pay him a visit and tell the world what a wonderful person he is and the Venezuelan people are happy.
Only one way out of this one. A bloody revolution.
It appears that the situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate.
The big stump with a moustache was Chavez wingman and rode to power only on that song. If ever a military coupe is justified this is it.
Most rich Venezuelans are now in the Miami area... Unfortunately, they bring their Chavez ideas with them, not freedom ideas...
Venezuela is a tragic story. Really. I remember when I hitchiked through all of Central America, flew to Colombia, worked there and then thumbed down as far as Lima Peru.
When I was there, all of Central America, Mexico (Mexico is actually a North American country), and what I saw of South America were basket cases. Grinding poverty, Marxist and Right Wing dystopias, Communist insurgencies, Universities whose commie orthodoxy make ours today look tame. Venezuela stood out as different. Sleek, prosperous, modern, liberal (”liberal” there means committed to historic liberalism, or free markets and free ideas). It was where you went if you were young, Hispanic, educated and on the go. Oil was driving a boom of development, and a rising middle class was on display for the bitter Marxist prunes surrounding them. It was a happy place with a future.
The problem was that the “capitalists” were not really free market folk. They were, like the USA of today, committed to the application of free market principles JUST ENOUGH to bring a money flow to them, but used the state to shut off real competition that would threaten them. They used the state to throw a bone to the dogs, giving them enough so that they would not riot and create chaos, but could shut them down if they were a threat to the power. This led to the typical leftist resentment. Then came Chavez, a wildly popular, populist, charismatic and mezmerizing leader who promised the little guy he was on their side against the powerful (yes, that IS the message of Trump. Populism is neither left nor right. It is little people against the elite). He was a Marxist and ruined the country. His successor, Maduro is neither popular nor charismatic, nor efficient. He is, though, a leftist.
The country is in shambles. I am serious. Middle class persons now paw through garbage dumps looking for scraps of food. Anyone with a passport tries to leave. The bolsa (stock market), once the envy of South America, doesn’t even trade. The oil industry is decrepit, aging, and in collapse. I feel a great deal of empathy for people who are kind, good, warm hearted folks who live in what has become the murder capital of the west (surpassing Honduras and Jamaica). The crime is terrible. Inflation is over a thousand per cent. Now Maduro has effectively dissolved Congress. The leader of the opposition party (a young charismatic western values guy), was jailed after the election. This is just very very bad
This is what leftism does to a country. I am still hopeful that we can have a convulsion and revolution there without a wave of bloodshed and chaos, but nervous.
I also am disappointed in the response by American conservatives to criticize the leftist leadership in countries like Ecuador and Bolivia. Do I think those men are fools and destructive? Of course. They are leftists. Lest you forget though, WE have had a marxist at the helm here for 8 years. Also, Hispanic leaders so resent the meddling, intrusive, heavy handed intervention into their affairs (down to a CASUAL overthrow of their elected leaders), that they are often pushed “to the left” by our very policies of state in the USA. They admire Fidel, not because of his efficiency (they know that is a lie), but because he gave the finger to the USA and lasted it out without being invaded or overthrown by the CIA. This makes it harder to influence affairs there in anything but the most hamfisted and brutal interventions.
I feel sad for the Venezuelan people, many of whom are wonderful folk.
In Venezuela if you own the judges and the courts you own the country.
Sound familiar?
In other breaking news a judge in Hawaii has ruled that there were irregularities in the 2016 election of Donald Trumpand a restraining order was issued that restricts him from carrying out the duties of the President. The restraint order designated Chuck Schumer as the interim President while this issue is resolved by the courts.
Fine by me. Hastens the day of overthrow. Just don’t send us the people.
What...no checks and balances/separation of powers? Oh, where has the world seen that before? /s
totalitarians r us ALERT!
“They have kidnapped the Constitution, they have kidnapped our rights, they have kidnapped our liberty,” said Julio Borges, the opposition lawmaker who heads the body, holding a crumpled copy of the ruling before reporters on Thursday.
What about your 2nd amendment? /s
This is the inevitable end point of a socialist autocracy. It has just been reached more quickly in Venezuela’s case because Maduro and Chavez before him, are really stupid, believing the absurdities coming out of their mouths.
For decade, Vz asphalt for roofing shingles was the best in the world. Millions of tons of the stuff was shipped to Gulf and East Coast ports. Shingle makers paid a premium.
Then, Hugo had a better idea. Cut off the Gringos and ship the stuff to China at a lower net back. Genius !
Haven’t read about Schumer as interim President. Reference, please? Judicial overreach? No its the overthrow of the government. Venezuela is the half breeds ideal. He’s not on Brando’s island. The SOB is plotting a triumphant return to Versailles on the Potomac and declaring himself President for life. The Constitution will be suspended and all the Uniparty members in Congress will acquiesce.
You’re an idiot
You’re an idiot
The ballot box has been eliminated.
The soap box has been impounded.
Looks like it is time for the cartridge box.
Have a great revolution, Venezuela!
Personally I think the legislature should mirror exactly what the Supreme Court did. Meet anyway, declare the Supreme Court "dissolved" and all judicial power now in the hands of the legislature and go about business as usual as if nothing happened. It would most likely end up being a futile gesture since Maduro controls all the real power, but when gestures are all you got left, sometimes there is nothing left to lose.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.