US embassy cable - 05CARACAS577

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 000577 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KJUS, VE 
SUBJECT: JUDGES UNDER FIRE: INTIMIDATION IN VENEZUELA'S 
PENAL COURTS 
 
Classified By: A/DCM ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASONS 1.4 (d) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (C)  Venezuela's "judicial revolution", heralded by 
Supreme Court (TSJ) President Omar Mora, has already begun, 
according to reports from judges. The lawyer of a Chavista 
leader told one judge she would be fired for refusing to 
attend a political meeting. Another has resigned just before 
being fired, after a three year old case was suddenly 
reactivated and reversed by an appeals court. A Supreme Court 
justice, who supports President Hugo Chavez, accused the 
Judicial Committee of the Supreme Court of acting in an 
unacceptable manner in the recent suspension of two appeals 
court judges, and said he is worried about the direction the 
justice system is going. Two other appeals court judges 
reported that judges are extremely tense, waiting for word of 
who will be fired, and there are numerous reports of private 
meetings to decide who to purge. End Summary. 
 
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You're either with us, or against us. 
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2.  (C) Caracas criminal trial Judge Beatriz_ Perez told 
poloff February 14 that lawyer Jesus Jimenez_ had called her 
three days before to tell her that she would be fired because 
of her friendship with Monica Fernandez.  Jimenez_ represents 
radical Chavista street activist Lina Ron, who Perez found 
innocent of assault charges in December 2003. Perez said she 
protested that she was a qualified and professional judge, 
who had never attacked the Chavistas, and had not signed the 
Presidential recall petition. She said Jimenez_ answered, "We 
don't care about that. Either you are with us, or against 
us." According to Perez, Jimenez_ then told her he had invited 
her to a political meeting several weeks earlier as a favor 
and was insulted that she had refused. 
 
3.  (C)  On February 14, judicial inspectors came to Perez' 
office to open an investigation against her for a complaint 
lodged several months earlier.  Perez told poloff she was 
convinced this would be the excuse to fire her.  She said 
that Jimenez_ had told her she shouldn't complain, given her 
financial situation.  Perez said she was shocked to hear the 
personal details of her life that Jimenez_ had.  She felt that 
she had been evaluated based on her susceptibility to 
pressure, and that she would be fired for being too well off. 
 Perez told poloff she was considering to what extent she 
should acquiesce to the pressure against her to protect her 
job and family. She said, "I feel like I am joining a drug 
gang, and if I do I may not be able to get out again." 
 
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Inexcusable error, three years late 
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4.  (C)  Caracas criminal trial judge Monica Fernandez told 
poloff February 18 that she had resigned two days earlier, 
after being accused of an "inexcusable error", which would 
lead to her firing. On April 12, 2002 Fernandez ordered then 
Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin confined to his 
home, on charges based on the allegation that he was no 
longer a minister following President Chavez' alleged 
resignation. She ordered Rodriguez freed the next day, when 
it appeared that Chavez had not resigned, and closed the 
case. In November 2004, prosecutors opened a criminal 
investigation against Fernandez, Chacao mayor Leopoldo Lopez, 
and Baruta mayor Henrique Capriles for this case. On February 
15, the 4th Appeals Court of Caracas ruled that Fernandez' 
action constituted an "inexcusable error", and overturned her 
actions in the case. According to Fernandez, this is 
juridically absurd, since the case was closed in Rodriguez's 
favor, and the period for any appeal had long since lapsed. 
Fernandez told poloff she believes members of the GOV ordered 
the court to make the ruling to create an excuse to fire her, 
and to help the criminal case against her and the two 
opposition mayors. 
 
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I am very worried about the situation. 
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5.  (C)  Alejandro Angulo Fontiveros, Supreme Court Justice 
 
 
in the Penal Chamber, told poloff February 18 that he was 
"very worried" about the direction the "judicial revolution" 
proposed by TSJ President Mora may take. Angulo nonetheless 
strongly defended President Chavez, and said he understood 
that the GOV had suffered innumerable illegitimate attacks, 
including from within the justice system. As an example 
Angulo specifically mentioned the August 2002 ruling by the 
Supreme Court that the April 11 events were not a coup. 
However, Angulo said, this did not justify the wholesale 
politicization of the justice system. He said he was worried 
that the penal system would be negatively effected by the 
selection of judges on political grounds, and the purging of 
judges. Angulo said he had brought these concerns up with TSJ 
President Mora, and said he was considering whether to remain 
on the court. 
 
6.  (C)  Poloff asked Angulo about the recent suspension of 
two judges from the 10th Criminal Appeals Court of Caracas 
following their decision to annul a lower court order 
prohibiting those accused in the Carmona Decree case to leave 
the country. According to Angulo, the Judicial Committee of 
the Supreme Court, led by former Movimiento Quinto Republic 
Deputy Luis Velasquez Alvaray, had immediately suspended the 
judges and ordered the control judge to reissue the original 
ruling. This was juridically null and void, according to 
Angulo, because the Judicial Committee is an administrative 
body, with no legal right to review decisions or give orders 
to lower criminal courts. The reconstituted 10th Appeals 
Court then reversed the original judges, without the case 
having ever been properly appealed. Fernandez asserts that 
this is completely anti-juridical, and has never happened in 
Venezuelan judicial history. 
 
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The situation is extremely tense. 
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7.  (C)  Judge Leonardo Parra, of the 8th Criminal Appeals 
Court of Caracas, and Judge Elsa Gomez, of the 4th Criminal 
Appeals Court of Caracas, told poloff February 16 that the 
situation in the courts is "extremely tense." The two judges 
nervously spoke about the latest rumors on who was going to 
be fired, speculating on the possible firing of Chavista 
judges involved in corruption. Gomez reported that she had 
recommended someone for a job as judicial inspector, and that 
she had been told during the interview, "you must be ready to 
take orders, and fire whoever you are told, even one of 
ours."  Parra said he believed the ultimate aim of the 
"judicial revolution" is to create a judicial system entirely 
subservient to the GOV. Gomez told poloff that the decision 
in the Fernandez case was regrettable but necessary, because 
you cannot jail ministers just because someone shows you a 
piece of paper and says the president resigned. 
 
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Drunk with Power? 
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8.  (C)  Edgar Lopez, judicial correspondent for the Caracas 
daily El Nacional, told poloff February 17 that Velasquez had 
arrived at a meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme 
Court on February 18 with a list already prepared with judges 
he wanted to fire. These included temporary and provisional 
judges. (Note: The Judicial Committee has the authority to 
fire temporary judges, but in theory provisional judges have 
extensive protections against summary firing. Fernandez 
asserted that many have been fired, or forced to retire, but 
usually with some administrative fig leaf, while Perez says 
Velasquez had eliminated these rights for provisional 
judges.) According to Lopez, the other judges on the Judicial 
Committee balked at Velasquez' proposal to fire provisional 
judges on a mass scale without any due process. Lopez 
described Velasquez as "drunk with power," and suggested that 
he, and not TSJ President Mora, is the real power on the 
Court. This opinion was shared by Parra and Fernandez. 
 
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Comment 
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10.  (C)  All indications are that the new TSJ leadership 
will not be subtle. The message judges are reporting is that 
absolute loyalty to Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution" is the 
sine qua non of the "judicial revolution." How sitting judges 
react ranges from Perez' quiet desperation as she considers 
 
 
selling her soul for a job she loves, to Fernandez' defiant 
resignation. Meanwhile, Parra and Gomez sit nervously and 
gossip, wondering what is in store for them. Not even Gomez' 
loyal service to the revolution seems to grant her any 
special privileges. The new leadership on the Court is 
changing the old clientelistic ties among judges. Those 
Chavista judges who are tied to recently retired TSJ 
President Ivan Rincon and Alejandro Angulo are no more sure 
of their positions than other judges. What seems clear is 
that those judges who survive, and the new judges who join 
them, will have to be loyal to the revolution. 
McFarland 
 
 
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      2005CARACA00577 - CONFIDENTIAL