Opposition deputy: top court ruling is "a mess"

Deputy Alfonso Marquina (opposition party UNT – Sucre municipality) described as "a mess" the ruling of the Supreme Tribunal of Court (TSJ) that Hugo Chávez, as a reelected president, does not need to take oath again, thus endorsing the administrative continuity of his government.

His comment came in response to the presence of Latin American and Caribbean foreign ministers and leaders to attend a meeting of oil alliance Petrocaribe and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). According to Marquina, such foreign officials and leaders are not aware of the real situation facing Venezuela.

"Beyond any doubt, the foreign ministers who are in the country have not read this mess, this decision of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) that disregards the Constitution. Therefore, they have little to say," Marquina said during a press conference offered by the parliamentary bloc of the opposition alliance MUD.

Alfonso Marquina said the decision issued by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) is political rather than legal because "it is meant to give a veneer of legality to the usurpation of authority that will take hold in Venezuela as of tomorrow (January 11)."

"The ruling is full of contradictions and based on assumptions," he said.