The New Venezuela: An Interview With Supreme Court Justice Fernando Vegas
The New Venezuela: An Interview With Supreme Court Justice Fernando Vegas
15 September 2014
| Daniel Kovalik
Judge Fernando Ramón Vegas Torrealba, the First Vice President of Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) and President of the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court, was an honored guest at the National Lawyers Guild Convention in Chicago this past weekend. I was able to interview him while he was there about the current situation in Venezuela.
Judge Vegas has been an esteemed lawyer in Venezuela for nearly half a century, having received his law degree in 1971 from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). He has practiced law since that time and has also served as a Professor of Legal Sociology at the UCV School of Law.
Justice Vegas was elected to the Supreme Court by the National Assembly in 2005. Recently, he was the Education Director of the DISIP (Venezuela's intelligence service) where he had a notable impact on changing paradigms for the training of officers in order to teach them about the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela - a constitution created through public participation and debate and ratified by referendum in 1999 -- and universal norms of human rights.
As Judge Vegas explains, the Supreme Court has tried to carry out Chavez's goal of "opening up the judicial process to the people." This is demonstrated by the fact that the Supreme Court hears and rules upon thousands of cases a year. According to Vegas, "the people now have confidence in the Justice system," and that's why they feel comfortable in seeking redress from the Court. Moreover, "justice is now free," in the sense that people can now initiate cases with absolutely no court fees.
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/bloggers/The-New-Venezuela-An-Interview-With-Supreme-Court-Justice-Fernando-Vegas-20140915-0003.html
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