Venezuela’s supreme court backed down Saturday from a pair of rulings that triggered a constitutional crisis and sparked international condemnation, but anti-government activists were proceeding with plans for a massive protest march. The nation’s supreme court, which earlier in the week issued a pair of rulings that essentially stripped the nation’s legislative branch of its powers, issued several clarifications on its website on Saturday. The revised language appeared to reverse the earlier, controversial rulings labeling the opposition-controlled National Assembly in “contempt” of the law. The earlier court decisions had been met with censure from both international and domestic critics, who viewed the rulings as an assault on separation of powers. Maduro’s foes had long assailed the supreme court, which had blocked a succession of congressional measures since the opposition gained control of the National Assembly in 2015.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 01, 2017 14:44 UTC