REVOLUTIONARY JUSTICE: CHANGES IN VENEZUELA'S TOP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000472

SIPDIS

NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS VE
SUBJECT: REVOLUTIONARY JUSTICE: CHANGES IN VENEZUELA'S TOP
COURT

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

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Summary
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1. (U) The new Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) elected
Justice Omar Mora President of the Court in its first plenary
session February 2. Former TSJ President Ivan Rincon
announced his resignation from the Court the same day. In
his first public remarks as TSJ President, Mora said that
those justices who voted against the thesis that the April
2002 events were a coup should be removed. A former member
of Venezuela's Communist Party and self-described leftist
revolutionary, Mora called for a thorough purge of the
judicial system. Former MVR Deputy Luis Velasquez Alvaray
was elected head of the powerful TSJ Judicial Committee and
of the Executive Directorate of the Magistracy. The
following day, the Judicial Committee suspended two members
of a Caracas Appeals court after the court ruled to lift a
travel restriction against those accused of signing the
Carmona decree. End Summary.

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New Leadership at TSJ
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2. (U) The Venezuelan Supreme Court elected Omar Mora
President of the Court February 2, with 30 of 31 possible
votes. Mora is also President of the Social Chamber of the
Court. Former president Ivan Rincon announced his
resignation on the same day, after failing to gain support
for his reelection. The Plenary also elected former
Movimiento Quinto Republica (MVR) Deputy Luis Velasquez
Alvaray to head of the powerful Judicial Committee and the
Executive Directorate of the Magistracy (DEM). The National
Assembly appointed Velasquez to the TSJ's Constitutional
Chamber as part of the recent expansion of the Court. The
DEM administers the entire lower court system in Venezuela,
under the supervision of the Judicial Committee. Up to now,
the President of the TSJ had also led the Judicial Committee.
Former Military Prosecutor General Eladio Aponte Aponte,
also a new member of the Court, was elected President of the
Penal Chamber. Justices appointed by the National Assembly
in December 2004 under the new TSJ law took over as president
of four of the six chambers.

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Omar Mora
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3. (U) Omar Mora has described himself in recent newspaper
interviews as an independent leftist revolutionary. "I want
profound changes in the political and social structure of
Venezuela," he told daily newspaper El Nacional February 4.
He described himself as, "absolutely identified with the
process of changes the constitution stimulates, which
correspond to my childhood dreams." Mora praised President
Hugo Chavez as "the fundamental motor" of the (revolutionary)
process. He also proudly claimed that he was imprisoned
seven times between 1966 and 1967, for collaborating with
guerrillas as a member of the Communist Youth as a teenager.

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Judicial Reforms
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4. (C) Mora called for a "revolutionary transformation of
the judicial system." He attacked the judicial system as
slow, expensive, corrupt and bureaucratic, and promised a
reform based on "dignity, honesty, and love." Mora claims he
wants to institute reforms along the lines of his reforms in
Venezuela's labor courts. Judicial observers, including
Marino Alvarado of the independent human rights group PROVEA,
and David Varela of the World Bank, have praised these
reforms, which have eliminated a large backlog of cases, and
given workers and employers access to a system which
encourages negotiated agreements. Alvarado told PolOff
February 1, however, that the decisions and judges in these
courts were not of very high quality.


5. (U) Mora also proposed a "review" of judges. He
publicly attacked the TSJ justices who voted in August 2002
that the events of April of that year did not constitute a
coup, but rather a "power vacuum," and called for the
removal of all judges who do not support the constitution, or
who go against it ("coup mongers"). Mora argued that the
TSJ's absolution of the military officers accused in the

SIPDIS
April events led directly to the national strike in late

2002. He has also attacked the release of criminals based on
"legal formalities," while promising to respect judicial
independence.

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Luis Velasquez Alvaray
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6. (C) Velasquez's election as head of the DEM and the
Judicial Committee makes him the de facto manager Venezuela's
court system. Velasquez was the leading proponent of the
Supreme Court law which resulted in the expansion of the
Court, and under which he was named to the TSJ. Fellow MVR
Deputy Roberto Quintero told PolOff that Velasquez was one
of two men responsible for choosing the new TSJ justices.
Velasquez speculated publicly in June 2004 that 90% of all
sitting judges would eventually be removed by President
Chavez' supporters. He is now in charge of the body
responsible for hiring, training, disciplining and firing
Venezuela's judges.

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First Act
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7. (U) On February 4 the Judicial Committee, under
Velasquez, suspended three judges in Caracas for actions
taken in the Carmona decree case. One of the judges had
issued an order prohibiting persons under investigation in
the case from traveling outside the country, an order which
potentially effected over 400 persons. The others had
annulled the order on February 1, lifting the restrictions
against the suspects. Mora publicly defended the
suspensions, stating, "this measure should serve as an
example, as we are not ever again going to permit, under the
excuse of formalisms, that impunity is generated." Velasquez
called the Appeals Court decision part of a "destabilization
process" linked to the April 2002 events. He promised to
intervene in the future in any similar actions by the courts.
The magistrates who took over the duties of the suspended
judges reversed the decision to lift the travel ban February

9.

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Comment
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8. (C) With the election of the Mora/Velasquez team to lead
the TSJ, supporters of President Chavez in the judiciary have
discarded the appearance of maintaining judicial
independence. Mora makes much of his revolutionary
credentials, and if he is bound by his words, political
considerations are likely to predominate in the Court's work.
Brownfield