The Supreme Court not only upheld the constitutionality of the economic emergency decree issued by President Nicolás Maduro on January 15, 2016. In a single sentence, the court endorsed all the items and the interpretation that the government is trying to impose on the economic crisis affecting Venezuelans.
Notions like «induced inflation» and «economic war» – used by chavismo and widely criticised by the opposition and various economists – have been used by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to endorse Maduro.
«As noted, the President of the Republic dealt with an alarming and serious situation, caused by the economic war waged against the Venezuelan people, in order to effectively control the exceptional and extraordinary situation experienced by the Venezuelan economy,» reads the ruling published on January 20, 2016, four days after the Head of State submitted the economic emergency decree to the Supreme Court.
In a joint resolution, the judges of the Constitutional Court applauded the measure as it would serve to «mitigate the effects of induced inflation, speculation, the fictitious value of the currency, the sabotage of goods and services distribution systems, as well as to counter the effects of war on oil prices.»
In order to show that the notions put forward by Maduro are a «public communicational fact» the judges cited a series of articles published in the media. Noteworthy is an opinion piece entitled «Economic War» authored by the editor of the newspaper Ultimas Noticias, Eleazar Díaz Rangel, a known Chavez supporter.
«I am not surprised that the opposition, stimulated from Madrid, Miami and Bogotá, insists on denying that there is an economic war,» wrote Díaz Rangel, who also compared the conspiracy and the coup that overthrew Chilean President Salvador Allende to the situation facing the Maduro administration. Such arguments now have the blessing of the Constitutional Court.
To clarify beyond any shadow of a doubt, the judges reaffirmed their «organic support» to the economic emergency decree recognising its «relevance, appropriateness and proportionality, which provides this safeguard of the people with a solid legal foundation and popular high significance.»
Extract of the judgment
the President of the Republic dealt with an alarming and serious situation, caused by the economic war waged against the Venezuelan people, in order to effectively control the exceptional and extraordinary situation experienced by the Venezuelan economy,» which is public communicational fact, given the reports in the media and appropriate actions taken by the National Executive”.
