Political Chaos in Venezuela

For John, BLUF:  Not doing it the regular way invites a spiral descent to disaster.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Top Venezuela official breaks with government, protests mount

From Reuters and the keyboards of Reporters Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta, reporting from Caracas, Venezuela.  The date is Friday, 31 March 2017.

Here is a capture of the first four paragraphs (although, really three of them are only one sentence):♠

Venezuela's powerful attorney general on Friday broke ranks with President Nicolas Maduro's government after the judiciary annulled congress, a rare show of internal dissent as protests and international condemnation grew.

Luisa Ortega, appointed attorney general in 2007 and a staunch ally of the Socialists who have ruled for the last 18 years, rebuked the Supreme Court's controversial move to take over the opposition-led National Assembly's functions.

"It constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order," the 59-year-old said in a speech.  "It's my obligation to express my great concern to the country."

While various prominent political figures have leveled criticism after leaving the government, it is extremely rare for a senior Venezuelan official to criticize like this.

Not that it is not like Venezuela.

There are lessons to be learned here, and not just that Bolivarian Socialism is a non-starter as an economic system.  The other key point is that when the balance of power between the branches of government is upset, government becomes unstable and may not be easily righted again.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My Middle Brother, Lance, believes I use the term lede as a way of signaling that I am better educated than he.  He should understand "signally" since he is a Democrat and they do a lot of virtue signally.  Anyway, if anyone else cares to roll in on this issue, feel free.