"Maduro Forced Us" President Of Venezuela’s Supreme Court Opens Up

here's what's been going on recently in Venezuela the opposition party claimed Maduro didn't actually win the 2024 elections and said he lied about it the Supreme Court came out and said Maduro did win ignoring those claims but now it's starting to look like Maduro might have pressured the court into saying he won and the Supreme Court itself has shed light on the whole thing revealing just how much Maduro has a hold on them things are getting more Twisted as we dig deeper into what's really happening curious to know more about this then watch this video Until the End the court what's trending right now in Venezuela is that its Supreme Court which many believe to be loyal to president Nicholas Maduro has declared him the winner of the July 28th election even though the opposition is crying foul over what they call widespread vote fraud in a ruling by judge kislia Rodriguez the court firmly backed the results announced by the national electoral Council CNE stating that the election materials had been thoroughly certified and that Maduro was indeed the winner opposition candidate edmundo Gonzalez urua wasn't having it he quickly took to social media posting an image with the word void in response to the Court's decision earlier this month Maduro had asked the court to weigh in on the election results claiming Victory with 52% of the vote according to the CN but here's the gist the CN didn't provide a detailed breakdown of the results citing a Cyber attack as the reason the Supreme Court even backed this up saying they had evidence of a massive hack many observers however see this as a convenient excuse to withhold the actual vote data the opposition on the other hand and published their own tally showing that Gonzalez urua had won more than 2third of the votes of course maduro's party dismissed this calling the opposition's material fake Gonzalez urua stressed that no court decision could override the will of the people and warned that the ruling would only deepen the crisis the court however had already made it clear that their decision was Final the UN Human Rights Council has some serious doubts about whether Venezuela's Supreme Court is playing Fair they're saying that both the court and the national electoral Council are part of the government's efforts to crack down on anyone who opposes them basically the UN is worried that President Nicholas Maduro and his ally dioo Cabello have been pulling the strings behind the scenes telling the judges what to do Human Rights Watch didn't hold back either calling out the Court's ruling as just another way to cover up what they believed was a rigged election and Chile's president Gabriel borich didn't mince words either saying it's pretty clear that this is a dictatorship that's not only faking elections but also coming down hard on anyone who disagrees with them Chile has a large community of Venezuelan migrants which maduro's government doesn't seem to want to acknowledge things have gotten really tense with reports of violence after the election leading to 27 deaths over 190 injuries and thousands of people being arrested on top of that Venezuela's Parliament which is full of maduro's supporters has decided to hold off on debating a new law that critics say would just be another way to go after political opponents so what if all this just makes the situation even worse it seems like instead of calming things down these moves might might be making everything more heated this isn't the first time the Supreme Court of Venezuela has shown its loyalty to Maduro in 2017 chief justice Mel Moreno made waves in Venezuela when the Supreme Court he led decided to strip the National Assembly of its powers handing them over to a 32 judge tribunal instead even in a country where political upset isn't rare this decision caused a huge stir and it led to Major protests which eventually forced Moreno to roll back most of the decision just 3 days later this move really showed Moreno's role as the enforcer for president Nicholas maduro's government which was being increasingly called a dictatorship by countries like France the US and neighbors like Colombia and Peru Moreno who started out as a bodyguard for former president Carlos Andres Perez the 47th and 50th president of Venezuela before becoming a judge has been using his court to block almost every Major law passed by the opposition-led assembly but even though he's such an important figure most Venezuelans don't know much about Moreno's past reporters dug into documents and spoke with people who knew him to get a better picture of his rise to power what came out was a story of a man who used personal connections and took on politically sensitive cases that others avoided which helped him gain favor with Maduro and other leaders of former president Hugo Chavez's bolivarian Revolution Moreno's rise however isn't without its dark sides he's faced serious allegations over the years including being involved in extortion schemes and even being arrested back in 1989 for allegedly killing a teenager these claims have haunted him throughout his career but there's no evidence that he was ever tried or convicted for any of these charges when reporters reached out to Moreno about these allegations he brushed them off calling them sensationalist Fabrications he initially agreed to an interview but then went silent and didn't respond to any further questions neither the Supreme Court nor maduro's government had anything to say about these issues either among the documents that reporters found were a 2006 intelligence report and a Supreme Court ruling from a decade earlier both pointing to incidents where Moreno was accused of wrongdoing like the 198 9 shooting and his removal as a lower court judge in 2007 for allegedly mishandling the release of two murder suspects but wait how's a Supreme Court judge in Venezuela accused of murder here's what really happened on the evening of April 26th 1989 Moreno and two of Perez's bodyguards were in par Central a workingclass area in Caracus a fight broke out and Ruben Gil a 19-year-old student jumped in with a baseball bat the bodyguards fired their guns and Gil was killed the next day's headline shouted about it showing a picture of Gil's sad mom caran romelia Marquez de Gomez Moreno was arrested after the shooting and a report from the Supreme Court's security division from 10 years ago confirmed he was booked for homicide the Supreme Court had this report made back in 2006 by then the court was already in line with former president Chavez's government but some judges were starting to question Moreno's decisions the report which was just recently revealed was signed by Luis Enrique voria Garcia who was in charge of security at the time the report has one missing page but the details about about the shooting and Moreno's removal from the bench in 2007 were confirmed by people who know the report however it's still unclear if Moreno was ever tried or sentenced the reports said he was in jail until sometime in 1990 but there's no paper trail about his case attempts to check records at the central judicial archive were blocked and the Supreme Court didn't respond to requests Gil's mom passed away but those close to her said there were legal proceedings after her son's death though no one knows what happened with the case some witnesses and family members said Moreno was the one who shot Gil and they mentioned a rivalry between Gil and Moreno one witness said Gil was shot in the back which matches his death certificate Moreno has never publicly confirmed or denied he shot Gil but he told friends it was self-defense and that everything was sorted out the report also mentioned that Moreno got some sort of illegal benefit to get out of jail in 1990 but didn't give more details in a text chat Moreno denied he served jail time and said the report details weren't true but didn't clarify further so when Moreno's Supreme Court approved maduro's election to set up the constituent assembly in 2017 many saw it as a step towards more authoritarian rule the decision led to four months of protests resulting in the deaths of 125 people Moreno making decisions on behalf of Maduro and not for the benefit of Venezuelans just shows that Maduro gets the support of criminals Luis Velasquez a former judge has been vocal about Moreno's past Velasquez who investigated Moreno before he was appointed to the Top Court discovered the arrest record of Moreno and claims that he once pressured a fellow judge to release a suspect involv involved in arms and drug trafficking Moreno isn't alone in facing serious allegations that year the US accused vice president TK El iami of drug trafficking and imposed sanctions on both him and Maduro for human rights abuses Moreno and seven other justices were also sanctioned for allegedly undermining the legislature and restricting Venezuelan rights the Venezuelan government dismissed these accusations and criticized the sanctions which blocked Americans from doing business with them and froze any us assets they held El isami denied any involvement in drug trafficking and criticized the US on Twitter for what he called miserable provocations Venezuela once a prosperous Nation with the world's largest oil reserves has faced severe economic and social problems under Maduro but Maduro defended his government against fraud claims insisting he isn't a dictator despite having a beard which makes him look like Stalin Maduro claims he is not Stalin but the people of Venezuela think otherwise and the recent controversies in the 2024 election greatly proves this let's talk about it the election Maduro is saying he won the presidential election but he hasn't shown the vote counts yet on the other hand the main opposition group is accusing him of trying to rig the election opposition volunteers managed to get copies of vote tallies from about 80% of the 30,000 polling stations across the country these tallies suggest that edmundo Gonzalez the former opposition candidate won by a margin of more than 2 to one even the European Union's top Diplomat has claimed that Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro hasn't shown the public the evidence needed to Pro prove he won the July election and this statement came right after Venezuela's Supreme Court backed maduro's controversial Victory claims the EU joined several Latin American countries and the US in rejecting the high Court's certification of the election results they're urging Maduro to release the official tally sheets which are the most reliable proof of the vote count in Venezuela as they're hard to fake however the Supreme Court and other government officials claim these tallies that the opposition provided are fake Joseph Burell the eu's Foreign Affairs Chief stressed that that only results that are fully verified and transparent will be accepted meanwhile Brazil and Colombia are also calling for the election data to be released leaders Lis inao Lula D Silva of Brazil and Gustavo Pro of Colombia said that only by publishing clear and verified data can The credibility of the electoral process be restored they didn't outright reject the Court's certification but are pushing for transparency both leaders have been working closely with Maduro and are trying to help with dialogue between the different sides the reason for this is because l and pro have been criticized for being too soft on Maduro before they are now sounding tougher especially after the election mess their countries are neighbors to Venezuela and were involved in agreements meant to lead to Fair elections agreements the opposition and others say Maduro hasn't kept these two presidents have taken note of the Court's ruling but are still waiting for the official vote counts they also asked people in Venezuela to stay calm and avoid violence this is important because over 2,000 people have been arrested and protests have broken out across the country while Lula and Petra didn't directly blame maduro's government for the violence their comments show their concerned however the Venezuelan government isn't happy with what Burell said calling his remarks interventionist they warned that the eu's constant disrespect for Venezuela could hurt their diplomatic political and economic relationships the Crackdown has made things even scarier in Venezuela where people are used to such government actions during political unrest opposition leader Maria Karina Machado has gone into hiding and the government plans to ask Gonzalez to testify in an investigation saying he's trying to create Panic by challenging the election results controversies around elections aren't new for Nicholas Maduro the past elections that saw him become president of Venezuela were also disputed by many on May 20th 2018 Venezuela held its presidential election and the results as announced by the national electoral Council showed that about 6 million people voted to reelect Maduro however the turnout was just 46% the lowest in Venezuelan Democratic history this election was pretty controversial most of the Venezuelan opposition chose to stay out arguing that the election was not legitimate various International groups including the Limer group of Latin American countries the United States the European Union and the interamerican commission on human rights all claimed the election was rigged and fraudulent on Election Day the main opposition candidate declared that he wouldn't accept the results and 46 countries echoed this sentiment the low turnout reflected the election's lack of legitimacy back in 2013 when Maduro was elected for the first time the participation rate was 80% almost double the turnout in 2018 the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election was seen as problematic because it didn't follow basic rules for fair elections according to the Electoral Integrity project Venezuela scored only 45 out of 100 on their fairness index during Hugo Chavez's presidency from 1999 to 2012 Venezuela held many elections that seemed Democratic but Chavez concentrated power in his hands controlling the Supreme tribunal and the national electoral Council for instance in 2004 Chavez manipulated a recall referendum to ensure he won when Maduro came into office in 2013 the elections were already controversial and things got worse when the Supreme tribunal dissolved the Venezuelan Congress in January 2018 the situation worsened when the National constituency Assembly set up against the Venezuelan Constitution called for an early presidential election the Constitution requires elections to be announced at least 6 months in advance the assembly also blocked several opposition parties like the Mesa DEA Unida democratica which had won the 2015 Congressional elections many opposition leaders were banned prosecuted or went into Exile losing their right to participate in politics the national electoral council's directors were appointed by the Supreme tribunal not by the Venezuelan Congress as required this led to political bias shown when the council blocked the 2016 recall referendum against Maduro voter rights were affected by problems with the Electoral register including issues for Venezuelans living abroad only only about 100,000 Venezuelans abroad managed to register to vote which is a basic requirement freedom of speech was also at risk the constituent assembly passed an anti-hate law that made criticizing the government a crime with possible prison sentences of up to 20 years corruption was a big issue too critics said the government used social programs to pressure voters breaking the anti-corruption law for example Henry Falcon maduro's main opponent accused Maduro of using the Fatherland card needed for government provided medicine and food to force voters into obedience standards of the rule of law were ignored once the constituent assembly was formed the Venezuelan Constitution was ignored the Supreme tribunal also showed clear bias towards Maduro for example in December 2015 the Supreme tribunal suspended three opposition deputies but more than 2 years later they still hadn't made a final decision so low voter turnout couldn't be blamed for maduro's victory instead the low turnout was due to the fraud that helped him stay in power what happened next Venezuela faced its worst economic and social crisis with a serious humanitarian emergency and hyperinflation maduro's actions like taking over Kellogg's facilities only made things worse the May 2018 election didn't fix the crisis in fact it probably made things worse according to Pippa Norris from the Electoral Integrity project not following International election standards increased the risk of severe violence given Venezuela's already weak State this could have terrible results Maduro seems to be following in the the footsteps of past leaders who used control over the courts to secure their power proving he's no different from those who came before him role models of Injustice back in 2004 the Venezuelan Congress which was mostly controlled by President Hugo Chavez's party did something that seriously hurt the independence of the country's Supreme Court they added 12 new justices to the court making it a lot bigger this move was seen as a way for Chavez to gain even more control over the judicial system originally the 1999 Constitution which was created with Chavez's help was supposed to protect the independence of the Judiciary it even set rules to ensure that Supreme Court Justices could only be removed for serious reasons with a 2/3 majority vote in Congress but in May 2004 Chavez signed a new law that changed all that the law allowed his party to pack the Supreme Court with their own people and gave them the power to remove judges without needing that 2/3 majority vote the opposition wasn't even told who the nominees were until it was time to vote this move was seen as a political takeover of the Supreme Court it made things worse for the independence of the Judiciary especially since many judges didn't have secure jobs with 80% of them lacking job security earlier in March that year three judges were suddenly fired after making decisions that didn't align with the government's interests hurting the independence of the Judiciary wasn't done only in Venezuela some countries were also guilty of this one of them is Zimbabwe Zimbabwe's ruling party took control of the Constitutional Court in 2017 and this happened under Robert mugabi the National Assembly Zimbabwe's lower house of parliament voted to change the Constitution so the president could choose the top judges in the Constitutional Court like the Chief Justice without needing anyone else's approval the ruling party got enough votes to pass this change even though the opposition disagreed this change was a big threat to the independence of the courts next it needed approval from the Senate and a signature from president Robert Mugabe many believe the Senate and Mugabe should reject the change because it would weaken the rule of law even more mcabe had tried to weaken the courts before in 2000 when judges ruled against his land reform program he accused them of protecting white racist commercial Farmers after that the government used threats insults and rewards to control the judges the government also made Zimbabwe's courts weaker By ignoring several high court orders and publicly attacking both the courts and individual judges for example in 2005 when Justice tendai uchenna ruled that Roy Bennett a jailed opposition member could run for office from jail Mugabe called the decision stupid and told his suppor to ignore it bua later reversed his decision and disqualified Bennett from the election the people of Zimbabwe asked that the Senate reject the national assembly's Amendment as this would show strong support for keeping the courts independent this would give some reassurance to both zimbabweans and others who believe the country needs independent judges Vladimir Putin of Russia is also on the list he has also been viewed as a leader who suppresses the power of the court in his country let's talk about the Judiciary in Russia generally this tight control over the courts goes back to Soviet times back then the idea of being innocent until proven guilty wasn't really a thing if you were accused of a crime you were almost always found guilty and appeals rarely changed anything in today's Russia under Vladimir Putin the courts are mainly used by the Kremlin to silence critics and Crush any opposition Putin who doesn't support Democratic Values has been expanding his control since he took power in 2000 often using the weak legal system to Target his opponents an example of how Russia's courts are misused is the case of Sergey a tax auditor who exposed corruption by Russian officials while working for his clients Bill Browder and Hermitage Capital Sergey found evidence of massive theft from the Russian government during the rapid privatization period all of which was backed by the Kremlin in Revenge Putin used the courts against him in November 2008 Sergey was arrested and held in a notorious prison under false charges he was kept there for 11 months without a trial denied visits from his family and forced to live in terrible conditions despite his worsening health he was denied medical care including a surgery that could have saved his life Sergey died in November 2009 just days before he would have had to be released if he hadn't been tried yet in January 2022 armed men broke into the apartment of Sidi a former judge of the Chen Supreme Court and kidnapped his wife Zara she was taken to chcha despite being seriously ill the reason for this was likely the loud criticism of cin Leader ramzan by her sons after the kidnapping SII fled the country with his daughter because of threats against their lives Russian officials didn't take any action against this attack on a judge's family instead they downplayed it with Putin spokesman saying they didn't believe the reports later Zara was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison on trumped up charges this blatant disregard for the independence and safety of Judges shows how Putin views the justice system as long as judges follow the government's orders they're safe but the moment they show any Independence they're no longer welcome Nicholas Maduro like these other leaders is also aggressively silencing critics of his government back in April the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela proposed to pass a new law that gave the security forces more power to to stop protests by turning them into a criminal act that could land people in prison for a long time this law known in Venezuela as the law against fascism was aimed at anyone showing dissatisfaction with the way things were in the country so if people from the opposition demanded election reforms or regular citizens protested against the frequent power outages they could be punished under this law an activist named Carlos Julio roas pointed out that this law wasn't just about punishing the opposition it was also aimed at anyone even those who used to support Maduro but now wanted to speak up about their dissatisfaction the law could Target anyone from those posting political messages against Maduro on social media to people simply complaining that the food from the regime's social program was spoiled basically with this law anyone who speaks out could be labeled a fascist Maduro continues to push for the passage of this new law if you enjoyed watching this video click on any of the cards on your screen to watch more interesting content