Venezuela | Defiant chief prosecutor requests protection

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for protection Friday, days after the Supreme Court barred her from leaving the country and ordered her bank accounts frozen.

Tensions between Luisa Ortega Diaz and President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist administration have been steadily escalating since she contested a Supreme Court decision in late March that dissolved the opposition-controlled National Assembly and sparked a deadly wave of unrest.

Since then, she has become one of the few critical voices within the government — other than the sidelined congress — challenging Maduro’s push to rewrite the constitution and pressing charges against officers responsible for deaths during anti-government protests.

On Friday, Ortega Diaz’s office announced it was summoning the chief of Venezuela’s feared Sebin intelligence agency, Gustavo Gonzalez, to appear on suspicion of “committing grave and systemic violations of human rights.”

Prosecutors said they are investigating incidents of illegitimate detentions, arbitrary raids and cases in which people have remained imprisoned despite court orders that they be freed.

Maduro responded hours later by promoting Gonzalez to head the nation’s army. He called Gonzalez and Antonio Benavides Torres, another high-ranking official under investigation by the state prosecutor, “brave patriots.”

“They have defended the peace of the republic and have all my support,” Maduro said.

The developments capped perhaps the most turbulent week yet in Ortega Diaz’s struggle to assert her office’s authority in a country where nearly every branch of the federal government is filled with Maduro allies.

Earlier this week, the government-stacked Supreme Court ruled that a number of responsibilities long the exclusive jurisdiction of the state prosecutor’s office would also be assigned to the pro-government public ombudsman’s office. The decision was drafted as a rogue police pilot flew a stolen helicopter over the Supreme Court, dropping several grenades and fleeing.

Ortega Diaz announced on Twitter she was seeking the protection of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for all workers at the state prosecutor’s office, but provided no further details.

The Washington-based body, which is an agency of the Organization of American States, is responsible for protecting human rights throughout the hemisphere. It did not respond to a request for comment.

In recent weeks, Maduro and his allies have stepped up their criticism of the prosecutor.

Vice President Tareck El Aissami told state broadcaster VTV on Friday that Ortega Diaz “acts like a militant for the opposition.” He said the Supreme Court’s restrictions on her movements were warranted. “They are necessary measures of justice,” he said.

Demonstrators look back during protests in Caracas

Ortega Diaz is a longtime supporter of the socialist government installed by the late President Hugo Chavez, whom she frequently quotes in defending positions that run counter to Maduro’s own assertions. More recently, however, she has become a thorn in the president’s side as he attempts to proceed with a constitution rewrite that she has roundly dismissed.

“I don’t recognize these decisions,” she said this week in denouncing the Supreme Court’s move to allow the ombudsman to carry out criminal investigations. “I will defend Venezuela’s constitution and democracy even if it costs me my life.”

Three months of political upheaval in Venezuela triggered by the March Supreme Court decision have left at least 77 people dead, hundreds injured and thousands detained. On Friday, opposition leaders denounced the detention of more than a dozen student protesters who were loaded into the back of a truck as tear gas launched nearby drifted into the vehicle and the doors were closed.

Demonstrators are demanding new elections, but Maduro has vowed instead to resolve the crisis by convoking a special assembly to rewrite the constitution. The election is slated to take place in late July though polls indicate it has little public support. MDT/AP

Pope urges end to violence

Pope Francis is calling for an end to the violence at Venezuela’s anti-government protests and is expressing solidarity with families of those killed. Francis led thousands in prayer yesterday for Venezuela as he noted the country is to mark its independence on Wednesday. He said: “I assure this dear nation of my prayers and express my closeness to the families who have lost their children in the street protests. I appeal for an end to the violence and for a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis.” The Vatican sponsored a dialogue last year that failed. Recently, Venezuelan bishops have travelled to the Vatican and briefed Francis on their criticism of President Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian bent.