On March 11 the constitutional chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Court annulled the infamous decision made by the court on August 14, 2002, that set free the four military officers who led the April 2002 coup against left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The new ruling opens the way for the four, no longer in the military, to be charged for their role in the coup by the country’s attorney general.

On April 11, 2002, the Chavez government was overthrown in a military coup that installed the head of Venezuela’s largest employers’ organisation, Fedecamaras, as president and overturned the laws enacted by Chavez that benefited the poor. The coup was reversed by a popular uprising 48 hours later.

In August 2002, in a narrow vote of 11-9, the Supreme Court caused uproar among the poor majority who back Chavez by dismissing the charges against the four former military officers — Army General Efrain Vasquez Velasco, Air Force General Pedro Pereira, Vice-Admiral Hector Ramirez Perez and Rear Admiral Daniel Comisso Urdaneta.

The ruling had claimed that what had occurred was not a military coup, but a “power vacuum” — a ludicrous claim given that not only did the military officers overthrow the existing government, using the lie that Chavez had resigned, but a new government was immediately sworn in to take its place. This event was nationally televised.

According to the Venezuela Analysis website, Luisa Estela Morales, the president of the court’s constitutional chamber, explained that the new decision “was made following the verification of the grotesque violation of the constitutional principles”.

Venezuelan Vice-President Jose Vincent Rangel issued a statement declaring that the decision “on the one hand, vindicates the historical truth and, on the other hand, vindicates the rule of law”.

The original decision that absolved the officers, “was a true assault on democratic legality, committed by a group of judges who proceeded to embarrassingly serve interests that were contrary to justice”, said Rangel.

Reform of the Supreme Court The decision to nullify the old ruling was made possible because of a law to reform the Supreme Court, passed by the parliament last year. Among other measures, the law increased the number of judges sitting on the Supreme Court from 20 to 32, and allowed for the appointment of a judge by a simple majority vote of the National Assembly, Venezuela’s unicameral parliament. Prior to the adoption of this law, a two-thirds majority was required.

The new law also allows for the annulment of a judge’s appointment to the court if he or she fails to uphold the law and the constitution.

This reform of the Supreme Court has prompted a lot of controversy both inside and outside of Venezuela. Venezuela’s capitalist-backed opposition, as well as US officials and anti-Chavez commentators in the US media, have accused Chavez of violating “judicial independence” and of “packing the courts” with his supporters.

Not only is the claim fundamentally untrue — it is not the president but the National Assembly deputies who appoint the Supreme Court — but the hypocrisy of those making the claim is staggering. There was no serious judicial independence in the courts before Chavez’s rise to power, and the Bush administration is renowned for wanting to pack the US Supreme Court with judges who share its neo-conservative ideology.

What the Venezuelan opposition is really afraid of is that the capitalist elite is losing control over the courts, and therefore their immunity from prosecution for the crimes they have committed to date in their campaign against Chavez.

As well as carrying out the failed 2002 coup, the opposition, which has received millions of dollars from the US government via the National Endowment for Democracy, has used economic sabotage and a campaign of violent protests in its attempt to oust the Chavez government, which was re-elected in July 2000 with 60% of the popular vote.

However, until recently, not a single person had been jailed for their role in the 2002 coup or other crimes linked to the campaign to overthrow the elected government. The failure to punish those involved in the coup against what they see as “their government” has caused enormous anger and resentment among the poor. In a letter from Venezuela posted at the Cyber Circle website in February this year, US solidarity activist Louise Auerhahn reported that one of the most common pieces of graffiti in Caracas reads “Prison to the coup plotters!”

All this began to change with a legal offensive started by the government last year and led by state prosecutor Danilo Anderson. Travel bans were issued to 30 participants in the coup and at least 400 individuals are being investigated for their role in the coup.

In October, eight anti-Chavez politicians and businesspeople were found guilty of rebellion for their role in ousting the elected pro-Chavez governor of the state of Tachira during the 2002 coup. They received prison sentences of up to six years. They were the first to be found guilty of charges relating to the coup.

Anderson assassination On November 18, Anderson was assassinated by a car bomb using C4 explosives. A number of individuals tied to the opposition have been arrested by the police for their suspected role in the assassination. The Vheadline website reported on March 9 that two days earlier police had raided the home of a former senator for the opposition-aligned COPEI party, Haydee Castillo de Lopez, in relation to the investigation into Anderson’s murder. Lopez’s son, Antonio Lopez, was shot dead during a gun battle last year when police attempted to arrest him on suspicion of involvement in Anderson’s murder.

Police found large amounts of C4 explosives, as well as anti-tank mines, assorted weapons and police uniforms. Vheadline reported that Attorney-General Isaiah Rodriguez said that the find “goes to prove that Antonio Lopez had participation in events that go beyond the murder of Anderson”.

Venezuela Analysis reported on March 15 that opposition leader and former governor of the state of Miranda, Enrique Mendoza, had been charged with seven crimes by the attorney-general. The alleged crimes, relating to Mendoza’s participation in the coup, include treason and civil rebellion.

Mendoza was responsible for taking the state-run TV station off the air during the coup. The station was the only TV channel not aligned with the opposition. Mendoza condemned the charges against him as part of a plot by a “totalitarian” Chavez government. However the president of the National Assembly, Nicola Maduro, defended the charges, declaring that “the application of justice by the majority of the people is the only thing that can guarantee stability before the pretensions of crazed sectors with financing from the United States”.

The charges against Mendoza come two weeks after Venezuelan police arrested Carlos Ortega, the former head of the pro-boss, anti-Chavez Confederation of Venezuelan Unions (CTV). Under Ortega’s leadership, the CTV participated in the failed coup and helped organise, along with Fedecamaras, the bosses’ lock-out in December 2002-January 2003 that attempted to force Chavez to resign.

After being charged with treason for his role in the lock-out, Ortega was granted political asylum in Costa Rica in February 2003. However, this was revoked one year later after he repeatedly violated the terms of the asylum by making repeated public calls for Chavez’s overthrow.

Ex-president charged In another development that indicates the determination of the government to bring to justice those who have committed crimes against the Venezuelan people, an arrest warrant was issued for former president Carlos Andres Perez on February 24 by state prosecutor Indira Josefina Mora. According to a February 25 Venezuela Analysis article, the charges relate to Perez’s alleged role in ordering the brutal suppression of a popular uprising in February 1989 in which up to 2000 people were killed. Perez, who oversaw the implementation of harsh neoliberal measures during his presidency from 1989 to 1993, has lived outside Venezuela ever since, having been impeached for corruption in 1993.

In an event known as the Caracazo, on February 27, 1989, at the behest of the International Monetary Fund, the Perez government hiked up the prices of basic goods and services, sparking spontaneous protests and looting by the poor in Caracas and other cities. To regain control, the military used lethal force, resulting in an official death toll of 327, although hundreds of bodies were later found dumped in wells.

The uprising and its brutal suppression proved to be a key turning point in Venezuelan history. In 1992, angered at the state repression during what they felt to be a just uprising, thousands of young soldiers, led by Chavez, then an officer in the paratrooper division, launched a failed rebellion aimed at overthrowing Perez and forcing fresh elections for a new civilian government. Since winning the presidential election in 1998, Chavez has reversed many of the neoliberal policies implemented by Perez.

The Venezuelan police do not know the exact whereabouts of Perez. Last year he publicly called from Miami for the assassination of Chavez, declaring that he “must die like a dog, because he deserves it”.

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