SALON

Saturday, Jan 12, 2013 8:30 PM UTC

Chavez opponents to challenge Venezuela ruling

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Chavez opponents to challenge Venezuela rulingOpponents of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez applaud during an outdoor gathering in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Venezuelan opposition politicians say they're preparing to present a case before a regional human rights court to challenge a Supreme Court decision that permits the indefinite postponement of President Hugo Chavez's inauguration. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)(Credit: AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition plans to present a case before a regional human rights court to challenge a Supreme Court decision that allowed the indefinite postponement of President Hugo Chavez’s inauguration.

The case is being prepared by a group of lawyers for the country’s opposition coalition, said Gerardo Blyde, a lawyer and opposition politician. He told reporters on Saturday that it’s not yet clear when the case will be brought before the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The opposition’s announcement came three days after the Supreme Court’s decision. Despite opposition claims that the constitution requires the inauguration to be held on Jan. 10, the pro-Chavez congress approved delaying the swearing-in and the Supreme Court endorsed the postponement, saying the president could take the oath of office before the court at a later date.

The government says the 58-year-old president, who is starting a new term after being re-elected in October, is fighting a severe respiratory infection in a Cuban hospital. Chavez underwent his fourth cancer-related surgery on Dec. 11, and he hasn’t spoken publicly or been seen since.

The opposition has demanded more information about Chavez’s condition, and some have called for a medical team to be formed to determine whether he is fit to remain in office.

Blyde, a district mayor, spoke to reporters at an outdoor gathering in a city plaza where leading Chavez opponents denounced the Supreme Court’s decision before a small crowd. One woman held a sign demanding of the government: “Tell the truth.”

The court’s ruling made impossible any appeal within Venezuela, so the opposition decided to seek relief from the regional tribunal. Blyde said the Supreme Court ruling violated democratic rules laid out in the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Chavez’s government has repeatedly clashed with two regional human rights bodies. It began a process of pulling out of the human rights court in September when it notified the Organization of American States that it was renouncing a regional convention on human rights.

But Blyde noted that the Venezuelan government will continue to be a party to the human rights court for a yearlong period that will end this September.

There was no immediate response from the government about the planned challenge before the regional court. Vice President Nicolas Maduro was visiting Cuba on Saturday, and had said he would be meeting with Chavez’s family and medical team.

More By Vivian Sequera.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
350 points351 points | 115 comments
vote
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government -- "...much of the U.S. economic security support system consists of subsidies for the affluent in the form of tax breaks, like those for private retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and private employer-provided health insurance."
62 points63 points | 3 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
38 points39 points | 2 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
41 points42 points | 4 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
36 points37 points | 3 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations