Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

Wednesday 9 august 2017 WORLD NEWS
A12

New Venezuela assembly declares itself superior govt branch

sembly has already ousted Smolansky, for the same al-
the nation’s outspoken leged crimes.
chief prosecutor, estab- Muchacho’s whereabouts
lished a “truth commis- were not immediately
sion” expected to target known, but he denounced
Maduro’s foes and passed the ruling on Twitter, saying
decrees pledging “support that “all of the weight of
and solidarity” with the un- the revolutionary injustice
popular president. has fallen on my shoulders”
Opposition lawmakers said for merely acting to guar-
they were barred from en- antee the constitutional
tering the gold-domed leg- right to protest.
islative palace after secu- The constitutional assem-
rity forces led by Rodriguez bly’s meeting Tuesday
broke into congress late came amid mounting criti-
Monday. cism from foreign govern-
“This government invades ments that have refused to
the spaces that it is not recognize the new super-
capable of legitimately body. More than a dozen
winning,” Stalin Gonzalez, Latin American leaders
an opposition lawmaker, were gathering in Peru to
wrote on Twitter of the as- discuss how to force Mad-
sembly’s takeover of the uro to back down. Peru’s
chamber the opposition president has been vocal
has controlled since win- in rejecting the new Ven-
Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, center right, accompanied by a group of ning 2015 elections. ezuelan assembly, but the
military commanders, arrives for a session of the Constitutional Assembly at the National Assembly Earlier Tuesday, Venezu- region has had trouble
building in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. The government-backed assembly that
is recasting Venezuela’s political system filed into the stately domed chamber where congress ela’s pro-government Su- agreeing on collective ac-
normally meets. In two previous sessions, the 545-member assembly met in an adjacent, smaller preme Court sentenced tions.
building. a Caracas-area mayor at In response, Maduro con-
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) the center of recent pro- vened a meeting of foreign
By JOSHUA GOODMAN playing images of the late Isturiz, the constitutional as- tests to 15 months in prison ministers from the Bolivarian
FABIOLA SANCHEZ President Hugo Chavez. sembly’s first vice president. for not following an order Alliance, a leftist coalition
Associated Press The order bars anti-govern- “We are looking for ways to to remove barricades set of 11 Latin American na-
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ment lawmakers in con- coexist.” up during anti-government tions.
— Venezuela’s new con- gress from taking any ac- Embattled President Nico- demonstrations. Venezuelan Foreign Minis-
stitutional assembly took tion that would interfere las Maduro convoked the Ramon Muchacho is the ter Jorge Arreaza told rep-
over the halls of the en- with the laws passed by the constitutional assembly in fourth opposition mayor resentatives from nations
dangered, opposition-con- newly installed assembly, what he contends is an whose arrest the high court including Cuba and Bolivia
trolled congress on Tues- Delcy Rodriguez, the super- attempt to resolve the na- has sought in the past two Tuesday that longstanding
day, issuing a decree de- body’s leader, declared to tion’s political standoff, but weeks. The court also or- U.S. aggressions against his
claring itself superior to all unanimous approval. opposition leaders insist it is dered an investigation into troubled South American
other branches of govern- “We are not threatening a power grab. Since its in- another prominent Ca- nation have “entered a
ment and prominently dis- anyone,” said Aristobulo stallation on Friday, the as- racas-area mayor, David much stronger phase.”q

Cuba orders closure of fast-growing accounting cooperative

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ consulting services, will Duenas called the decision The suspension included President Raul Castro
Associated Press have until Dec. 31 to an “error” that has no place the growing field of private expanded an opening of
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban completely liquidate, the in the policy of economic teachers as well as street the economy to private-
authorities have ordered cooperative’s founder and opening announced by vendors of agricultural sector employment in 200
the closure of one of the director Luis Duenas told Cuban officials. products, dressmakers categories of business in
island’s fastest-growing The Associated Press. On Tuesday, Cuba’s and the relatively recent 2010. The government
cooperatives, days after Duenas said the Ministry of government said it would profession of real estate says nearly 570,000
announcing that they Finances and Prices told suspend the issuance of broker. The announcement people are employed in
would stop issuing new him the decision to close permits for a range of did not say when the issuing the enterprises, including
permits for some private Scenius was “based on occupations and ventures, of permits would resume hundreds of restaurants and
enterprise. an analysis of our social including restaurants and and said that enterprises guest houses. It later also
Scenius, which provides purpose, or of the activities renting out rooms in private already in operation can legalized nonagricultural
accounting and business that we have approved.” homes. continue. cooperatives.q