Venezuela’s dueling legislatures deepen political chasm

Venezuela inaugurated dueling legislatures today, deepening an institutional chasm between President Nicolas Maduro's government and his US-backed opponents.

The new government-controlled National Assembly of 277 deputies — chosen on 6 December in disputed elections that were boycotted by mainstream opposition political parties — is headed by former communications minister Jorge Rodriguez, part of Maduro's inner circle.

Rodriguez now sits in the chair of Juan Guaido, the opposition leader who declared an interim presidency in January 2019, invoking his authority as assembly president.

In separate declarations today, Rodriguez, brother of Venezuela's executive vice president Delcy Rodriguez, and the new pro-government assembly's new first vice president Iris Varela struck confrontational tones.

Varela, a former prisons minister, is widely viewed by government critics as a radical leader of armed civilian gangs deployed by the government to repress opposition protests.

Rodriguez accused Guaido and his senior associates, including exiled Guaido mentor Leopoldo Lopez and Guaido's US envoy Carlos Vecchio of corruption and conspiracy.

Rodriguez also accused the Guaido-led opposition of conspiring with the International Court of Justice to surrender control of the disputed Essequibo territory to neighboring Guyana, where ExxonMobil is ramping up offshore oil production.

Rodriguez charged opposition leaders with stealing over $1.7bn in Venezuelan government assets and illegally seizing state-owned companies such as US refiner Citgo, which is nominally controlled by Guaido since 2019.

"They live in large mansions in Spain and Miami and consort with prostitutes," Rodriguez thundered, adding that the Guaido-led opposition "must be exorcised completely before Venezuela can be healed and rebuilt."

Varela demanded legislation to expropriate the Venezuelan assets of those who have left the country.

Guaido and other opposition figures reject government accusations of wrongdoing.

Despite the fiery rhetoric, Rodriguez was a leading government delegate to previous negotiations with the opposition, a role he could seek to resurrect if talks with the opposition should resume under the new US administration of president-elect Joe Biden, who replaces President Donald Trump on 20 January.

Parallel body The Guaido-led opposition-controlled assembly, elected in December 2015 in what is considered to have been Venezuela's last free election, voted last month to extend its five-year term for another year, based on its claim that the pro-government body is illegitimate.

The young opposition leader chaired a parallel virtual ceremony today in which the 147 of the 167 deputies elected in 2015 launched an extraordinary 2021-22 term. Most of the missing deputies are in exile.

In a subtle shift, Guaido's assembly renamed itself the National Assembly of the Democratic Alternative.

The one-year term extension that began today was based on a partial reform of an early 2019 statute that authorized Guaido constitutionally to serve as Venezuela's interim president until Maduro steps aside and free elections take place. The rubber-stamp Supreme Court nullified that extension on 30 December on constitutional grounds, but Guaido has vowed that the assembly legitimately elected in 2015 will extend its term indefinitely until new elections are held.

Guaido declared an interim presidency in January 2019, and was immediately recognized by the US, and other Western governments. But after a series of failed attempts to unseat Maduro, Guaido has lost support at home and abroad, fomenting power struggles within opposition ranks.

In his speech today, the opposition assembly's first vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa struck a tone of humility. "During these years we have committed errors of action and omission. These criminals (Maduro's government) were not put there by martians, much less by us who never believed in them. Here we have Venezuelans like Pontius Pilate, permitting this disaster and who today wash their hands. We should all rectify, and act."

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