Maduro scraps legislature

摘要

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has used his control of the supreme court to effectively dissolve the opposition-controlled national assembly, a provocative move that promises to further isolate the country. Attorney general Luisa Ortega Diaz appeared to have broken ranks with the regime on 31 March, by declaring the court's seizure of the legislative powers unconstitutional. This marks an extraordinary departure for a senior government member that has long used Venezuelan laws and the constitution to ratify the administration's increasingly authoritarian measures.