Luisa Ortega Díaz, Fiscal General de la República, se pronunció sobre las manifestaciones y los hechos de violencias registrados desde abril en el país, que han dejado hasta este 3 de mayo un saldo de 35 muertos.
Durante una entrevista concedida al periódico estadounidense Wall Street Journal, señaló que no se puede exigir paz y legalidad si el Estado no cumple con las leyes.
«No podemos exigir comportamiento pacífico y legal de los ciudadanos si el Estado toma decisiones que no van acorde con la ley», precisó la fiscal en su despacho en Caracas.
Dijo además que «es tiempo de dialogar y negociar». Significa que uno tiene que alcanzar decisiones por el bien del país».
En la conversación, la Fiscal General refirió irregularidades en el debido proceso, especialmente en aquellos casos donde los tribunales toman decisiones en contra del Ministerio Público, como la negativa de libertades a pesar de solicitudes de los fiscales en el caso de apresados por protestar.
“Este es uno de los asuntos que el Estado debe observar con preocupación», dijo Ortega Díaz en referencia al uso de tribunales militares.
Parte de la versión original en inglés:
Venezuela’s top prosecutor, already under pressure for criticizing the authoritarian government she serves, on Wednesday condemned state violence against protesters, decried the stratospheric inflation racking her country, and praised the constitution President Nicolás Maduro wants to eliminate.
Attorney General Luisa Ortega’s comments to The Wall Street Journal, in a rare interview, appeared to confirm her break with the hard-line leftist regime, which expects unquestioned loyalty as it wrestles with a growing surge of public unrest.
Mr. Maduro has intensified the government’s crackdown on protests and civil unrest that have cost at least 31 lives in recent weeks. On Wednesday shocking videos went viral on social media showing National Guard using armored riot-control vehicles to run over protesters in Caracas. The incident was confirmed by the mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao.
With the oil-rich nation entrenched in a punishing economic crisis and a bitter power struggle between the government and the opposition, Ms. Ortega’s carefully couched criticisms of Mr. Maduro’s slide into authoritarianism have turned her into an unlikely face of dissent after having served for a decade as a pillar of the Socialist government.
“It’s time to come to terms with ourselves,” the 59-year-old lawyer said at her office in the capital. “It’s time to hold talks and to negotiate. It means one has to yield on decisions for the good of the country.”
Talk like that is unusual from a top-ranking Venezuelan official, particularly one like Ms. Ortega, who has long drawn the ire of rights groups for using what they considered kangaroo courts to lock away political foes and for allegedly helping the government bury charges of rampant corruption.
The government appears to be trying to shunt her aside in the face of her displays of independence. Her speeches no longer get live coverage from state TV, she has lost her bodyguards and the Maduro government has ramped up the use of military tribunals to circumvent the public prosecutor’s office.
Ms. Ortega has denounced the use of armed civilian groups that do the government’s bidding. She has urged that the right of protest be respected and due process guaranteed, complaining of hundreds of arbitrary detentions by National Guard and intelligence police. Her comments undercut the government’s argument that the street violence embroiling the nation stems exclusively from right-wing agitators.
“We can’t demand peaceful and legal behavior from citizens if the state takes decisions that don’t accord with the law,” said Ms. Ortega.
Vía Panorama/www.diariorepublica.com