VENEZUELA: Venezuela's supreme court, divided into several chambers that rule on different areas of law, suffered a bitter split this week when magistrates clashed over the validity of signatures gathered to force a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. Michael McCaughan reports from Caracas.
The supreme court's electoral chamber ruled on Monday that 870,000 signatures held in legal limbo due to procedural irregularities were valid, thus lifting the final obstacle to the referendum vote. The opposition took to the streets in celebration, and began preparing for the plebiscite.
On Wednesday, however, the supreme court's constitutional chamber overruled the decision, and insisted that the outstanding signatures would have to be validated by each person on the list. This would require them to come forward and confirm they did intend to sign the petition.
Venezuela's new constitution permits a recall challenge to the president halfway through office, prompting opposition groups to organise a petition last December to secure the required 2.4 million signatures. Initial results revealed 1.8 million validated signatures plus a further 870,000 signatures filled out in one person's name but signed by another.
The dispute escalated yesterday when the court's electoral chamber refused to hand over the signatures to the constitutional chamber, halting the ratification process due to begin that day.
Venezuela's attorney general immediately announced an investigation into the "unethical behaviour" of the three supreme court magistrates who ruled that the challenged signatures were valid.
The division at the heart of Venezuela's judicial authorities echoes similar divisions within the security forces, the diplomatic service and most notably among Venezuelan families.
Venezuela's state institutions are divided into two hostile camps whose decisions are guided more by political loyalty than the merits of each case.
It came as no surprise this week when the electoral chamber, dominated by anti-Chavez officials, announced that the signatures in limbo were valid, just as the constitutional chamber, dominated by pro-Chavez judges, annulled the earlier announcement.
President Chavez has launched literacy, health and education programmes, distributed land and steered an independent foreign policy at odds with the US government.
The country's middle class is convinced that his efforts to redistribute some wealth are merely a foretaste of a more radical project aimed at installing a totalitarian regime.
Mr Chavez's fiery speeches have outraged the opposition. Business opponents are dismissed as fascists, hostile archbishops are labelled "servants of satan", and President Bush was recently described as "an asshole".
The political battle lines are sharply drawn between rich and poor, but it is impossible to tell whether the majority poor will vote for Mr Chavez in sufficient numbers should a referendum occur.