Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04CARACAS1508
2004-05-05 18:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

SUPREME COURT LAW PASSED

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KDEM VE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001508 

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: SUPREME COURT LAW PASSED


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d
)

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SUMMARY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001508

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: SUPREME COURT LAW PASSED


Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d
)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The National Assembly completed the second reading of
the Organic Law of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) April

30. The bill, which now goes to committee before further
consideration by the plenary, would:
-- raise the number of Supreme Court judges from 20 to 32;
-- allow the judges to be appointed by a simple majority of
the National Assembly;
-- give the Human Rights Ombudsman, Attorney General and
Comptroller General the power to suspend judges;
-- and allow the Assembly to revoke judicial confirmations by
a simple majority. Chavez opponents believe it will be three
to five months before new judges are appointed, but are
concerned that Chavez supporters will move quickly to suspend
judges they do not like from the TSJ. End Summary.

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Marathon sessions to pass law
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2. (C) The National Assembly (NA) has been considering the
Organic Law of the Supreme Court of Justice since January of

2003. The pro-GOV majority, called the Bloque del Cambio (BC
- Alliance for Change) used three tactics to pass the law on
this reading. First, they reduced the bill from 179 articles
to 23, by combining articles and dropping some parts of the
law. They also modified internal NA debate rules six times
to restrict the extensive debates that the opposition had
used as a delaying tactic. BC legislators then used marathon
NA sessions, extending through the night, to push the
shortened bill through the NA.


3. (C) Opposition deputies charge that the changes to
internal NA rules, and the compression of the articles
violate parliamentary procedures and standards for drafting
laws. Primero Justicia deputy Gerardo Blyde told members of
the diplomatic corps on May 4 that legislators did not see
amended texts, some of them five to six pages in length,
until they were brought up for a vote. NA rules, Blyde said,
require texts to be distributed five days in advance.

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Next Steps
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4. (C) The bill now goes to the Internal Politics commission

for fine tuning before being returned to the plenary for
another vote. The commission has ten days, but according to
legislator Leopoldo Martinez, the Bloque del Cambio could
succeed in turning the bill back to the plenary as early as
May 6. The bill would then be sent to the President, who has
10 days to approve it, send it back to the NA for changes, or
send it to the TSJ, according to article 214 of the
Constitution. Names of GOV supporters are already being
floated in the papers. Among those whose names are being
rumored to be candidates for the new judgeships, according to
press reports, are NA Deputy Luis Velasquez Alvaray
(Movimiento Quinta Republica),who led the push to pass the
law, and Marisol Plaza, the Solicitor General.

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Main Points
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5. (U) Chavez opponents note that the main provision of the
bill is to expand the number of TSJ judges from 20 to 32.
The GOV argument is that the extra judges are needed to bring
down the backlog of cases before the TSJ. The opposition
argues it is an attempt to solidify the Chavista's hold on
chambers they already control, and take control of the ones
they do not. The law would also allow the NA to approve
judges with a simple majority vote after three failed
attempts to get a two thirds majority. The law would also
give the NA more control over the appointments committee that
recommends candidates to the NA, and reduce the influence of

the TSJ on the committee. According to Martinez, it would
take three to five months for the first new judges to be
appointed.


6. (C) Martinez also warned about two other features of the
law which will become operative much sooner. The "Citizen
Power," composed of the Human Rights Ombudsman, the
Controller General, and the Attorney General (all Chavista
appointees) can suspend judges when they have committed
serious infractions. This suspension must then be accepted
or rejected by a two-thirds majority of the NA. Until such a
decision, the judge would remain out of office. Blyde
asserted that this provision violates the constitution and
gives Chavez supporters the ability to side-line judges
without having to convince two-thirds of the legislature of
the charges.


7. (C) Another article allows a majority NA vote to remove
any justice from the TSJ who is found to have made false
statements in the nominations process. Martinez said this is
designed to get rid of Franklin Arrieche, justice of the
Civil Chamber, and Vice President of the full court.
According to Martinez, these very rapid steps could give the
GOV control of the TSJ long before any judges are appointed,
and in time to prevent an adverse ruling from the full court
on the dispute between the Electoral and Constitutional
Chambers over their competency to rule on the Presidential
recall referendum.

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Opposition Complaints
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8. (C) In addition to Blyde's complaints about the tactics
used to pass the law, poor legislative craftwork and
constitutional violation, Carlos Tablante of the Movimiento
Hacia el Socialismo (MAS) called the bill "a parliamentary
coup d'etat which will gravely injure the Judicial Power."
Teodoro Petkoff argued in his May 4 newspaper column that for
all intents and purposes, President Chavez is now de facto
President of the Supreme Court. Opposition leaders continue
to examine options to fight the law. One possible avenue is
a repeal referendum, which would require the signatures of
ten percent of the people on the electoral register to
activate it. They are also considering taking the law before
the TSJ.

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COMMENT
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9. (C) With this law, the Chavistas hope to take firm
control of all the chambers of the TSJ, ending any serious
judicial review of their actions. Besides the ability to
appoint loyal judges, the law gives the Chavistas running the
Citizen Power a huge stick with which to threaten any judge
who might dare to oppose the government. This power will be
the first to come on line, and may be enough to render the
opposition's judicial strategy moot. The only real hope for
the TSJ is if the Court itself decides to intervene in its
own defense. The idea of a repeal referendum is almost a
non-starter, given the history of the presidential recall
referendum. The Chavez success on the TSJ law bodes ill for
other legislation that the revolution has deemed a priority.
The next target is the media law. No doubt we will see many
of the same tactics to push the draft through without
compromise or meaningful debate.
SHAPIRO


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2004CARACA01508 - CONFIDENTIAL