Venezuela's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. Photo: Stock Image
By Wilmer Depablos – Apr 11, 2026
There can be no peace without justice; hence the paramount and historical importance of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice’s impeccable interpretation regarding the unprecedented US imperialist attack that resulted in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores. The Venezuelan people applaud it standing.
We cannot ignore or minimize the application of Article 335 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CRBV). It was automatically activated on January 3 and empowers the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) to act exclusively and without exception as the highest interpreter of the Constitution.
Article 233 of the CRBV is not applicable because kidnapping does not fall within any of the five scenarios it provides for. Therefore, it is not applicable, and its intended application is an error of fact in constitutional law.
Article 234, which establishes the sixth scenario of temporary absence, whatever the cause (medical, travel, among other scenarios), is also inapplicable for obvious reasons, since we are dealing with a kidnapping of the president.
There is no room for any of the deadlines established in Article 234 of the CRBV because the condition of temporary absence is not present, nor is the National Assembly empowered to pronounce because, I repeat, we are not in the presence of an absolute absence nor a temporary one, we are in the presence of an unprecedented kidnapping not foreseen in the Constitution.
Now, let us read carefully: only the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice is exclusively empowered to resolve this unique and unprecedented situation in our history, by mandate of Article 335 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The text is as follows:
The Supreme Court of Justice shall guarantee the supremacy and effectiveness of constitutional norms and principles. It shall be the highest and final interpreter of this Constitution and shall ensure its uniform interpretation and application. The interpretations established by the Constitutional Chamber regarding the content or scope of constitutional norms and principles are binding on the other Chambers of the Supreme Court of Justice and other courts of the Republic.
From reading the preceding article, it follows that:
1. That the competent body, in an exclusive and exclusionary manner, is the TSJ in the Constitutional Chamber.
2. That the constitutional mechanism provided for in Article 335 of the Constitution, which allows for continuous constitutional interpretation of the events that occurred, was automatically activated on January 3.
3. The constitutional (procedural) time limits stipulated in Article 234 of the CRBV are not applicable because the conditions established therein by the constituent assembly are not met. The kidnapping of the president is not provided for in the constitutional text.
4. For the reason stated above, it can be inferred that the National Assembly does not have the power to rule in this specific case since the assumptions of Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution are not provided for. For that reason, it must deviate constitutionally in accordance with the activation, dynamics, and application of Article 335 of the CRBV.
5. Any request to the National Assembly regarding the extension of the aforementioned constitutional (procedural) deadlines or the declaration of absolute absence is unconstitutional and erroneous. As we have already stated, the active institutional and constitutional subject for this purpose, in accordance with Article 335 of the CRBV, is the Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ as the sole interpreter of the public, notorious, and communicative fact that does not require proof in any judicial instance regarding the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela.
It is a communication and legal interpretation error to continue playing into the hands of the extremist and fascist opposition regarding the rhetoric of Articles 233 and 234. What is appropriate under strict constitutional law is the unequivocal application of Article 335, which empowers the highest interpreter of the Constitution, the TSJ. There is no other way.
Article 335 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was automatically activated to ensure that the Constitutional Chamber fulfilled the mandate stipulated therein. There is no room for other interpretations (legalistic and self-serving). The Constitution is clear. The Supreme Court is the sole interpreter of the Constitution, pursuant to Article 335, in its Constitutional Chamber. Period.
The chamber and its five justices fulfilled the mandate of Article 335 of the Constitution. Therefore, I invite you to read the timely and clear decision of these esteemed magistrates, which supersedes the application of Articles 233 and 234 already mentioned, due to the unprecedented reason of a new scenario: the forced removal or kidnapping of the president. Nothing more can be speculated about this. Therefore, the aforementioned constitutional mechanism, in accordance with Article 335, remains fully in effect until the cause that activated it ceases and empowers the Constitutional Chamber to rule when it deems it pertinent.
To conclude, I must remind everyone that the Venezuelan Constitution is clear when it establishes the presidential election periods and is not subject to the desires and passions of Venezuelan extremism, which, today, laughably acknowledges what we all know: the indisputable and unequivocal electoral victory of the constitutional president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, currently kidnapped in the US. It was ratified by the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court in 2024, upon the president’s request for an interpretation appeal.
The author is a jurist and political communicator with a geopolitical vision.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
