Venezuela’s chief prosecutor said on Monday her family had been threatened and followed by intelligence agents since she split with the government, and violence broke out in protests at the Supreme Court over a bid to change the constitution.
Luisa Ortega, a former ally of President Nicolas Maduro who has turned against him and the ruling Socialist Party, has questioned Maduro’s handling of opposition street protests in recent weeks and challenged his plan to rewrite a constitution brought in by late leader Hugo Chavez.
“Somebody is threatening my family,” she said in a radio interview. “They harass them. They follow them, patrol cars that look like SEBIN,” she said, referring to the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN).
State officials have launched a series of verbal attacks on Ortega, ranging from questioning her mental sanity to accusing her of promoting violence.
Last week she filed a Supreme Court challenge to Maduro’s plan to elect a legislative super-body known as a constituent assembly, that will have the power to rewrite the constitution and in some cases dissolve state institutions.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the challenge.
“The electoral chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declares that the (challenge) filed by Luisa Ortega Diaz is inadmissible because it is an inept accumulation of pretensions,” the court said on Twitter.
In response, Ortega launched another legal challenge, this time claiming that 13 judges appointed to the court in 2015 were put there via an “irregular” process and that they should be replaced.
Protesters angry at the pro-government court’s ruling on Monday attacked a branch of the court with petrol bombs and damaged a bank in the same building, which was engulfed in smoke and flames. Several protesters were injured as security guards tried to repel them.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said the violence was stoked by government agitators.
Outside the Supreme Court headquarters in downtown Caracas, protesters backing Ortega were earlier confronted by government supporters.
Maduro says Venezuela, which suffers chronic product shortages and runaway inflation, is victim of an “economic war” that he says can only be addressed by a constituent assembly.
Elections on July 30
The elections council has set an election for the assembly for July 30. The opposition is refusing to participate in the vote, saying it is rigged in favor of the Socialist Party.
In a move seen as crimping opposition power, the Interior Ministry on Monday took direct control of the state police force in Miranda, a region that includes a wealthy part of Caracas. Capriles, a former presidential candidate, is its governor.
Citing the current constitution, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the six-month “intervention” was justified because there was evidence the police force was involved in rights abuses and organized crime.
Capriles said the plan was to use the police force to repress protests and said members of the force should not obey any order that violated human rights or the constitution.
Ortega in April successfully challenged a Supreme Court decision to assume the powers of the opposition-controlled legislature, making her the highest official in years to openly break with the ruling party.
In May, she chided the government for trying civilian protesters in military tribunals and urged restraint by security forces in breaking up demonstrations, drawing the ire of state officials who call the protests a violent effort to overthrow Maduro.
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