The Government of Judges and Democracy. The Tragic Institutional Situation of the Venezuelan Judiciary

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the situation of the Venezuelan judiciary, after 15 years of authoritarian government (1999–2014), which was imposed in the country in contempt of what was expressly established in the 1999 Constitution and in the 2001 Inter American Democratic Charter. The result has been the complete subjection of the Supreme Tribunal to the National Executive, and the packing of the courts with temporary and provisional judges who, lacking stability, are subject to political instruction. In such circumstances, the judiciary has been the main tool used by the government to facilitate the concentration of power, the dismantling of democracy and the rule of law, and the persecution of dissidents in an illegitimate way