www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, March 20, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The judicial war has started with 4th Appeal Court Chamber judge’s decision to lift the house arrest of Federation of Chambers of Industry & Commerce (Fedecamaras) president, Carlos Fernandez.

One of Fernandez’ lawyers, Jose Tadeo Sainz says the decision means Fernandez is free because the judge did not find sufficient motives to continue with legal proceedings.

“The Attorney General’s office admits in a preliminary hearing that it was initiating an investigation against Fernandez and has not presented charges.” Fernandez’ lawyer says the government has no proof that his client took part in an armed insurrection against President Hugo Chavez Frias.

“What does figure in the acts accusing Fernandez is the development of the national stoppage, in which the only weapons used were flags and whistles.”

The government is expected to appeal the decision and formally specify charges.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, November 08, 2002 By: VHeadline.com Reporters

Residents of the eastern Caracas suburb of Chacao are hoping to collect around 7,000 signatures that they will then deliver to the National Electoral College (CNE) in two weeks time to call for a vote to see is the suburb's residence approve of the continuing protest in Plaza Altamira by a group of dissident military officers calling for a consultative referendum or President Hugo Chavez Frias' resignation.

Many local residents are complaining about the effects the protest is having on transportation in the area and an appeal has already been made to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) to order an end to the protest.

Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) rejects President's CNE request.

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice has declined a request by President Hugo Chavez Frias, asking the Court to set aside recently approved legislation, which prevents the board on the National Electoral College (CNE) from being disbanded until a new board has been appointed.

The refusal will now permit the CNE to continue processing the opposition's petition for a consultative referendum, which will be non-binding, on the President's rule. Despite the resignation of CNE president, Roberto Ruiz, earlier this month the CNE is assuring that it will be able to process the petition and decide on its validity within the 30 day timeframe it previously set out.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

5th Aragua Courts Judge Attaway Marcano has resigned from the case of the Llaguno Bridge pro-government shooters. According to sources at the Attorney General’s Office, Marcano opted out alleging personal problems with defense lawyers’ team chief Antonio Molina, which (he claims) could place his impartiality into question.

Richard Penalver, Rafael Cabrices and Nicolas Rivera's lawyers have asked for the process to be put on hold until the Appeals Court decides whether to throw out a sentence ordering a trial ... it has been learned El Universal photographer, Fernando Sanchez has been summonsed to court as a witness during the public and oral trial.

The opposition has monitoring the case’s progress and is taking it as a watershed of the government’s wavering or firm purpose to let justice take its course independent of pressure from either side of the spectrum.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 09, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: The International Bar Association has 2.5 million lawyer members all over the world, in some 185 countries. They sent a fact-finding team to Venezuela for about 10 days last February to evaluate the Venezuelan system of Justice. The findings of this team have just been given to the press and they could not be more damaging to the government of Hugo Chavez. In essence the team found that "the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is not a democratic State, is not under the rule of law and Human Rights are in peril..."

The fact-finding team claims that there exists a high level of impunity, that the judicial system is incapable of satisfying the need for justice of citizens, and that 75% of judges are only provisionally in their jobs, which make them specially vulnerable to political pressures.

The team also criticized the lack of clear limits between civil legal action and military action. In particular they express their deep concern about the absence of checks and balances in government, since the roles of the Attorney General, of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and of the Ombudsman are in hands of unconditional government followers. The absence of independent action in these institutions, they claim, worsens the problems of the administration of justice.

The team observed that the model of Judicial System called for in the 1999 Constitution has not been put in place ... sentences by the Supreme Tribunal are often ignored by government while open political pressures against judges have weakened the credibility of the system.

Some of the conclusions of the report (as printed in the Venezuelan press) are:

1. "The current distribution of political power in the Venezuelan State endangers human rights. It is of great concern (to us) the close relationship between the military and the executive power. When the military are given the role of judicial police and allowed to act in areas that should be reserved to civilian authorities, the rule of law tends to weaken...",

2. "The performance of the Venezuelan State has deteriorated in relation to its international obligations concerning human rights",

3. "The team respectfully asks the Venezuelan government to return to a proper Rule of Law by complying with Constitutional precepts",

4. "Demeaning remarks about the judicial system by the Executive Power represent an abuse of  State power ... insulting its members and decisions, inviting disobedience of their sentences and promoting social struggle constitute an aggression against democracy and can lead to serious violations against human rights",

5. "The team recommended naming the members of the Moral Power (Comptroller, Attorney General and Ombudsman) in accordance with the Constitution",

6. "The demand for justice in Venezuela is far from being met. There are millions of judicial processes unfinished. The country needs 5,000 justices of the peace and has only 250."

The International Bar Association team which carried out the mission is made up of a US lawyer, professor of law at the University of Florida, the President of the Constitutional Group of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica and an expert in human rights.

In most countries of the world such a report would create a major commotion and cause many dismissals and resignation ... in the Hugo Chavez' Venezuela it will not merit much attention ... the Law and the Constitution are not priority issues of this government.

International opinion, however, will take notice of this report and will pressure hemispheric governments to protest the increasingly authoritarian Venezuelan regime. Political and social unrest will not cease in our country until this bad President is gone ... until this nightmare disappears.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to the lawyers of rebel Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) executives, for whom Control Court 50 issued arrest warrants following a request from the Attorney General's Office, their clients have instructed them to appeal against the court's decision. 

The lawyers insist that the Court's decision violates their clients' rights and the matter is now in the hands of the appeals court. 

One of the lawyers, Carlos Sanz, says that if the appeal is successful then Court 13 will be called upon to take action and declare all charges against the PDVSA strike leaders to be null and void. 

The appeals court now has three days to consider if the appeal is admissible, and if it is, it will have another ten days to reach a final decision.