New Venezuelan Assembly usurps Congress

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY – The Venezuelan army on Tuesday blocked opposition lawmakers from entering the Legislative Palace as that country’s political crisis intensifies.

Delegates of the newly-elected Constituent Assembly forced their way into the palace and ordered guards to prevent opposition congressmen from entering the building, according to the opposition.

"This government invades the spaces that are no longer able to legitimately win,” opposition leader Stalin Gonzalez said on Twitter.

Since the installation of the Constituent Assembly last Friday, Congress and the new legislative body has shared the Legislative Palace -- working in different halls.

The Constituent Assembly is expected to announce new decisions to bring “justice” to the country during its session Tuesday. It could include stripping deputies of parliamentary immunity and political disqualification for anyone who urged violence.

The new body that has the power to rewrite the Constitution and dissolve institutions, voted Saturday to replace Attorney General Luisa Ortega – a harsh critic of President Nicolas Maduro – and replace him with Tareck William Saab, a Maduro loyalist.

The Assembly also created a Truth Commission with plenipotentiary power to ensure justice to victims of violence during the wave of protests against the government that have left at least 120 dead since April.

“Anyone who has called for violence will appear before the Truth Commission to be disqualified from exercising any public office and be severely investigated," Diosdado Cabello, deputy chief of the Socialist Party, said Monday.

Also Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the mayor of the district of Chacao, in Caracas, Ramon Muchacho, for not following an order to remove barricades during recent protests.

Muchacho, who has been sentenced to 15 months in prison, is the fourth opposition mayor to be arrested in the past two weeks.

The installation of the Assembly will likely intensify the country’s political crisis as Maduro’s socialist government has faced growing international criticism in recent weeks.

At least 40 international leaders have called on Maduro not to launch the new Assembly, threating not to recognize it.

Foreign ministers from 14 countries are meeting in Peru to discuss the growing political crisis.

The U.S. is also reportedly considering additional sanctions on Venezuelan individuals close to the Maduro government, after Washington froze assets of Maduro and 13 senior government officials last month in response to the Constituent Assembly vote.