Venezuela Attorney General Calls for Dismissal of 8 Supreme Court Justices

Venezuela’s Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz went before the Supreme Court Tuesday, asking that eight of its justices be impeached for “conspiring against the Republican form of the nation”, meaning the justices allowed or issued decisions that attack the oil-rich nation’s current form of political organization, a punishable offence under Venezuelan laws. “They are to separate themselves from their posts, immediately,” Ortega said in remarks to the local press outside the Court. This is the third time Ortega has gone before the Supreme Court since last week to ask for a measure and so far she has been denied. “What they are looking for is to dismantle the state.” Titular justices Juan Jose Mendoza, Arcadio Delgado, Carmen Zuleta, Calixto Ortega, Luis Damiani, Lourdes Suaez and alternates Federico Fuenmayor y Rene Degraves are all members of the Court’s Constitutional Hall, which has published dozens of pro-Maduro decisions since the opposition won the Assembly, according to government critics. More…