Venezuela: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Communist Party Dissidents, Appoints Ad Hoc Board for Elections
PCV press conference set. File photo.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela appointed an ad hoc board for the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), ruling in favor of a group of dissident party members who had filed a constitutional appeal before the court, alleging that the current board of directors is illegal and has distanced itself from the party’s principles.
The TSJ’s ruling, announced on Friday, August 11, in Judgment No. 1160, appointed an ad hoc board of directors to oversee the PCV’s internal affairs and organize democratic elections for a new leadership.
The ad hoc board is composed of Henry Parra as president, Sixto RodrĂguez as general secretary, and Griseldys Herrera as secretary. The other members are Carlos Figueroa (administration and finance), Zoilo Aristegui (ideology), Joahan Coraspe (agitation and propaganda), and Robinson GarcĂa (agrarian and peasant worker).
The TSJ ruled that the ad hoc board will have the responsibility of “organizing the internal democratic processes that guarantee the rights to political participation” of all PCV members.
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Unofficial translation of the TSJ ruling is presented below:
Decision: The TSJ declares itself COMPETENT to hear the filed constitutional appeal in protection of collective and diffuse rights. ADMITS. PROCEDURAL IN LIMINE LITIS the protection action filed and APPOINTS AD HOC BOARD OF DIRECTORS of the organization (PCV) so that in accordance with its bylaws and the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, it organizes the democratic processes that guarantee the rights to political participation of its members. To such effect the following persons are appointed: i) Henry Parra, identity card number 5025372, as President of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV); ii) Sixto RodrĂguez, identity card number 3323768, as general secretary of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV); ii) Griseldys Herrera, identity card number 13475410, as secretary of organization of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV); iv) Carlos Figueroa, identity card number 16087670, as secretary of administration and finance of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV); v) Zoilo Aristegui, identity card number 11776796, as secretary of ideology of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV); vi) Joahan Coraspe, identity card number 16807045, as secretary of agitation and propaganda of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), and vii) Robinson GarcĂa, identity card number 17291324, as secretary for the agrarian and peasant worker of the political organization Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV).
PCV response
The board of the Communist Party of Venezuela(PCV) that has been dissolved by the TSJ ruling denounced the decision on very early hours of Saturday.
“The magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ incurred in an inexcusable error of law by admitting and deciding in favor of an appeal for legal protection that was promoted out of time by a group of citizens who do not belong to our ranks and therefore do not have any legal qualification to act on behalf of our organization,” the party announced.
PCV’s translation of the full statement is provided below:
We denounce before the Venezuelan people, the Communist and Workers’ Parties, and the genuinely anti-imperialist forces of the world, the government of Nicolás Maduro for having consummated an assault against the Communist Party of Venezuela through an arbitrary judicial sentence that endorses the imposition of a leadership composed of mercenaries at the service of top government officials of the PSUV.
On Friday, August 11, the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice incurred in an inexcusable error of law by admitting and deciding in favor of an appeal for leagl protection that was promoted out of time by a group of citizens who do not belong to our ranks and therefore do not have any legal qualification to act on behalf of our organization, in violation of the Organic Law of Constitutional Rights and Guarantees.
This procedural fraud, which violates the political rights of the PCV and the Venezuelan working people, not only creates a serious precedent in the political and legal history of the country, but also exposes the authoritarian, anti-democratic and reactionary character of the PSUV-government, which believes that it will subdue the Venezuelan communists with this maneuver.
The National Leadership of the PCV is meeting at this moment, evaluating the legal and political, national and international actions that it will promote in defense of our right to exist as a Communist Party and to continue fighting for the regrouping of the political, social, workers, peasants and popular forces to achieve a revolutionary solution to the Venezuelan capitalist crisis.
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Background
In 2020, the PCV board decided to break with the government of President Nicolás Maduro a few months before the parliamentary elections, in a move that many consider to be a consequence of differences over candidacy quotas.
Since then, the PCV has constantly attacked the government of Nicolás Maduro and Chavismo amid the worst economic crisis and international aggression suffered by Venezuela in its history. According to Venezuelan political analysts, the PCV has been labeling economic and political decisions taken by the Maduro government as neoliberal without making a dialectical analysis of the circumstances behind those decisions.
As a result, a group of PCV members not aligned with current party authorities expressed their rejection of the PCV line, while another group from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) promoted the idea of total confrontation with the PCV.
The PCV has been moving closer to far-right political organizations, both national and international, exposing the internal differences of the party.
The differences resulted in this TSJ ruling, though Venezuelans are yet to see how it will be enforced. Many hope that it will bring real democracy in the PCV, as the current leadership has seemingly been co-opted by Trotskyist currents.
Meanwhile, mainstream media is taking advantage of the intensification of the PCV infighting to attack the Bolivarian Revolution and Chavismo, using the many feeds that the PCV have been providing to local right-wing news outlets and right-wing personalities in recent years.
On the other hand, for many analysts, this is not a victory for either the PCV or the PSUV but, on the contrary, a defeat for both political organizations that are supported by millions of Venezuelans, and a setback for ordinary Venezuelan Chavistas who have been putting their lives at stake to fight for Venezuela and the defense of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Orinoco Tribune Special by staff
OT/JRE/SC/SL
