US embassy cable - 05CARACAS472

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 000472 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KJUS, VE 
SUBJECT: REVOLUTIONARY JUSTICE: CHANGES IN VENEZUELA'S TOP 
COURT 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (U)  The new Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) elected 
Justice Omar Mora President of the Court in its first plenary 
session February 2.  Former TSJ President Ivan Rincon 
announced his resignation from the Court the same day.  In 
his first public remarks as TSJ President, Mora said that 
those justices who voted against the thesis that the April 
2002 events were a coup should be removed.  A former member 
of Venezuela's Communist Party and self-described leftist 
revolutionary, Mora called for a thorough purge of the 
judicial system.  Former MVR Deputy Luis Velasquez Alvaray 
was elected head of the powerful TSJ Judicial Committee and 
of the Executive Directorate of the Magistracy.  The 
following day, the Judicial Committee suspended two members 
of a Caracas Appeals court after the court ruled to lift a 
travel restriction against those accused of signing the 
Carmona decree.  End Summary. 
 
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New Leadership at TSJ 
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2.  (U)  The Venezuelan Supreme Court elected Omar Mora 
President of the Court February 2, with 30 of 31 possible 
votes.  Mora is also President of the Social Chamber of the 
Court.  Former president Ivan Rincon announced his 
resignation on the same day, after failing to gain support 
for his reelection.  The Plenary also elected former 
Movimiento Quinto Republica (MVR) Deputy Luis Velasquez 
Alvaray to head of the powerful Judicial Committee and the 
Executive Directorate of the Magistracy (DEM).  The National 
Assembly appointed Velasquez to the TSJ's Constitutional 
Chamber as part of the recent expansion of the Court.  The 
DEM administers the entire lower court system in Venezuela, 
under the supervision of the Judicial Committee.  Up to now, 
the President of the TSJ had also led the Judicial Committee. 
 Former Military Prosecutor General Eladio Aponte Aponte, 
also a new member of the Court, was elected President of the 
Penal Chamber.  Justices appointed by the National Assembly 
in December 2004 under the new TSJ law took over as president 
of four of the six chambers. 
 
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Omar Mora 
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3.  (U)  Omar Mora has described himself in recent newspaper 
interviews as an independent leftist revolutionary. "I want 
profound changes in the political and social structure of 
Venezuela," he told daily newspaper El Nacional February 4. 
He described himself as, "absolutely identified with the 
process of changes the constitution stimulates, which 
correspond to my childhood dreams."  Mora praised President 
Hugo Chavez as "the fundamental motor" of the (revolutionary) 
process.  He also proudly claimed that he was imprisoned 
seven times between 1966 and 1967, for collaborating with 
guerrillas as a member of the Communist Youth as a teenager. 
 
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Judicial Reforms 
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4.  (C)  Mora called for a "revolutionary transformation of 
the judicial system."  He attacked the judicial system as 
slow, expensive, corrupt and bureaucratic, and promised a 
reform based on "dignity, honesty, and love."  Mora claims he 
wants to institute reforms along the lines of his reforms in 
Venezuela's labor courts.  Judicial observers, including 
Marino Alvarado of the independent human rights group PROVEA, 
and David Varela of the World Bank, have praised these 
reforms, which have eliminated a large backlog of cases, and 
given workers and employers access to a system which 
encourages negotiated agreements.  Alvarado told PolOff 
February 1, however, that the decisions and judges in these 
courts were not of very high quality. 
 
5.  (U)  Mora also proposed a "review" of judges.  He 
publicly attacked the TSJ justices who voted in August 2002 
that the events of April of that year did not constitute a 
coup, but rather a "power vacuum,"  and called for the 
removal of all judges who do not support the constitution, or 
who go against it ("coup mongers").  Mora argued that the 
TSJ's absolution of the military officers accused in the 
 
SIPDIS 
April events led directly to the national strike in late 
2002.  He has also attacked the release of criminals based on 
"legal formalities," while promising to respect judicial 
independence. 
 
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Luis Velasquez Alvaray 
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6.  (C)  Velasquez's election as head of the DEM and the 
Judicial Committee makes him the de facto manager Venezuela's 
court system.  Velasquez was the leading proponent of the 
Supreme Court law which resulted in the expansion of the 
Court, and under which he was named to the TSJ.  Fellow MVR 
Deputy Roberto Quintero told PolOff that Velasquez  was one 
of two men responsible for choosing the new TSJ justices. 
Velasquez speculated publicly in June 2004 that 90% of all 
sitting judges would eventually be removed by President 
Chavez' supporters.  He is now in charge of the body 
responsible for hiring, training, disciplining and firing 
Venezuela's judges. 
 
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First Act 
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7.  (U)  On February 4 the Judicial Committee, under 
Velasquez, suspended three judges in Caracas for actions 
taken in the Carmona decree case.  One of the judges had 
issued an order prohibiting persons under investigation in 
the case from traveling outside the country, an order which 
potentially effected over 400 persons.  The others had 
annulled the order on February 1, lifting the restrictions 
against the suspects.  Mora publicly defended the 
suspensions, stating, "this measure should serve as an 
example, as we are not ever again going to permit, under the 
excuse of formalisms, that impunity is generated." Velasquez 
called the Appeals Court decision part of a "destabilization 
process" linked to the April 2002 events. He promised to 
intervene in the future in any similar actions by the courts. 
 The magistrates who took over the duties of the suspended 
judges reversed the decision to lift the travel ban February 
9. 
 
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Comment 
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8.  (C)  With the election of the Mora/Velasquez team to lead 
the TSJ, supporters of President Chavez in the judiciary have 
discarded the appearance of maintaining judicial 
independence.  Mora makes much of his revolutionary 
credentials, and if he is bound by his words, political 
considerations are likely to predominate in the Court's work. 
Brownfield