Venezuela chief prosecutor accuses government of harassment; violence flares
CARACAS (Reuters) Venezuela’s chief prosecutor said yesterday her family had been threatened and followed by intelligence agents since she split with the government, and violence broke out in protests at the Supreme Court over a bid to change the constitution.
Luisa Ortega, a former ally of President Nicolas Maduro who has turned against him and the ruling Socialist Party, has questioned Maduro’s handling of opposition street protests in recent weeks and challenged his plan to rewrite a constitution brought in by late leader Hugo Chavez.
“Somebody is threatening my family,” she said in a radio interview. “They harass them. They follow them, patrol cars that look like SEBIN,” she said, referring to the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN).
State officials have launched a series of verbal attacks on Ortega, ranging from questioning her mental sanity to accusing her of promoting violence.
Last week she filed a Supreme Court challenge to Maduro’s plan to elect a legislative super-body known as a constituent assembly, that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and in some cases dissolve state institutions. The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the challenge.
“The electoral chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declares that the (challenge) filed by Luisa Ortega Diaz is inadmissible because it is an inept accumulation of pretensions,” the court said on Twitter.
In response, Ortega launched another legal challenge, this time claiming that 13 judges appointed to the court in 2015 were put there via an “irregular” process and that they should be replaced.
Protesters angry at the pro-government court’s ruling yesterday attacked a branch of the court with petrol bombs and damaged a bank in the same building, which was engulfed in smoke and flames. Several protesters were injured as security guards tried to repel them.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said the violence was stoked by government agitators.
Outside the Supreme Court headquarters in downtown Caracas, protesters backing Ortega were earlier confronted by government supporters.